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THE AMERICAN GOVER.NMENT. 

I. 



BIOGRAPHIES 



'y I) 




iMan 



THE PRESIDENT OE THE UNITED STATES, 



THE VICE-PRESIDENT, 



THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, 



SENATORS OF THE FORTY-THIRD CONGRESS. 



By ^A7ILLIAM HORATIO BARNES, 

Author of the "Histoet of Congeess." 

WITH PORTRAITS ON STEEL. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. : 
W. H. & O. H. MORRISON, PUBLISHERS, 

176 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE. 
1873. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in tho year 1873, by 

WILLIAM K BAItNES, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



Bjr Transfer 
D. C. Public Lilbrary 
OCT 2 1937 



PREFACE 



£Q^^>;HE citizens of a tree country are vitally and pro- 
tbundly interested in the lives and characters of 
their rulers. It is their right, as well as their duty, 
to know the doings, the habits, the characteristics of their 
representatives — those who personate them in performing 
the functions of government. 

It is fortunate for the country that, notwithstanding the 
degeneracy in morals which invariably follows a civil war, 
we have men in the highest official stations who possess so 
many public and private virtues ; especially that the first 
of all is a man of such modest manners, such domestic vir- 
tues, such official integrity. 

To traduce our rulers has recently become popular among 
three classes — the bad, who, possessing no virtues them- 
selves, are prone to attribute vices to their superiors as 
license for themselves ; the envious, who desire to supplant 
those whom they malign ; _and the ignorant, who credu- 
lously accept as true all that is said and circulated by the 
classes previously named. The well disposed, who take 
pains to inform themselves, respect their rulers as they re- 
spect themselves. If they find an officer unworthy of his 

3 



, 2 PREFACE. 

place they dismiss him as soon as possible, without includ- 
ing all under blind and indiscriminate censure. 

This work, presenting the personnel of the American Gov- 
ernment, is designed as a contnbution to that knowledge 
which the people should have of their rulers. The per- 
sonal history, though brief, is accurate and authentic. The 
sketches are generally confined to a lucid statement of 
facts, with little attempt at personal description — ^for which, 
indeed, there is no occasion, since each biography is faced 
by an engraved portrait from a life-like photograph, which 
gives a far more correct idea of the man than any words 
could do. 

Of the eightj'-one men whose biographies are given in 
this volume, the oldest was born in 1799, and the young- 
est in 1842. As to their nativity. New York and Penn- 
sylvania are credited each with eight ; Virginia and Ver- 
mont, each with six ; Maine, Maryland, and Ohio, each with 
five. The remainder are distributed among seventeen 
States, and three foreign countries — Germany, Ireland, and 
Wales — which each claims one. Professionally, more than 
half are lawyers; while the remainder are merchants, edi- 
tors, physicians, manufacturers, and farmers. All but a 
very few were born in jjoverty, and' by their own energy 
and industry worked their way up to their high positions. 



BIOGRAPHIES AITD PORTRAITS. 



189 

AI.CORN, JAMES L '^r 341 

ALLISON, WILLIAM B ^"^/^V 135 



::±::::::: 



AMES, ADELBERT. 

ANTHONY, HENRY B ^i'^«.^ ^'^"^ 

BAYARD, THOMAS ""r'^ 43 



BELKNAP, WILLIAM W '^/'jL ^45 

BOGY,LOUISV ."' 139 

BOREMAN, ARTHUR I •1-;|^- '■ 249 

BOUTWELL, GEORGE S -^ ' ' ' ' ^^^ 

BROWNLOW, WILLIAM G •^,;- ' ' ' ' ' ' -^^^ 

BUCKINGHAM, WILLIAM A • ■" ^^ 

CAMERON, SIMON 149 

CARPENTER, MATTHEW H ' ^53 

CASSERLY, EUGENE ■ gS 

CHANDLER, ZACHARIAH ■■■■■■• ^g^ 

CLAYTON, POWELL I03 

CONKLING, ROSCOE 253 

CONOVER, SIMON B "' ^g^ 

COOPER, HENRY 99 

CRAGIN, AARON H 47 

CRESWELL, JOHN A. J ■■■■■ jgg 

DAVIS, HENRY G ■'■ 39 

DELANO, COLUMBUS ■■■'■ 355 

DENNIS, GEORGE R 257 

DORSEY, STEPHEN R ■' igi 

EDMUNDS, GEORGE R ' ^^55 

EENTON, REUBEN E p' .. [. 121 

FERRY, ORRIS S /< gOl 

FERRY, THOMAS W ^ ...... •■•• ■■■• 31 

FISH, HAMILTON ^'^-^ '_ " 159 

FLANAGAN, J. W V ' 125 

FRELINGHUYSEN, FREDERICK T •^- '""^''''''. 16I 

GILBERT. ABU AH V •'"' 337 

GOLDTHWAITE, GEORGE v " ' ' 3^^^ 

GORDON, JOHN B '^ 7 

GRANT, ULYSSES S V '''■■ -^^.j 

HAMILTON, MORGAN C 

5 



2 



BIOGRAPHIES AND PORTRAITS. 



HAMILTON, WILLIAM T 163 

HAMLIN, lUNNIBAL 53 

HITCHCOCK, PHINE AS W 207 

HOWE, TIMOTHY 73 

ING ALLS, JOHN J 277 

JOHNSTON, JOHN W 209 

JONES, JOHN P 281 

KELLY, JAMES K 219 

LEWIS, JOHN F 165 

LOGAN, JOHN A 211 

McCREERY, THOMAS C 267 

MERRIMON, AUGUSTUS S 269 

MITCHELL, JOHN H 279 

MORRILL, JUSTIN S 105 

MORRILL, LOT M 71 

MORTON, OLIVER P 109 

NORWOOD, THOMAS M 217 

OGLESBY, RICHARD J 238 

PATTERSON, JOHN J 259 

PRATT, DANIEL D 169 

RAMSEY, ALEXANDER 85 

RANSOM, MATT W 223 

RICHARDSON, WILLIAM A 35 

ROBERTSON, THOMAS J 131 

ROBESON, GEORGE M 45 

SARGENT, AARON A 261 

SAULSBURY, ELI 225 

SCHURZ, CARL 173 

SCO IT, JOHN 179 

SHERMAN, JOHN 81 

SPENCER, GEORGE E 133 

SPRAGUE, WILLIAM 93 

STEVENSON, JOHN W 227 

STEWART, WILLIAM M 97 

STOCKTON, JOHN P 183 

SUMNER, CHARLES 57 

THURMAN, ALLEN G 185 

TIPTON, THOMAS W 127 

WADLEIGH, B AINBRIDGE 265 

WEST, JOSEPH R 231 

WILLIAMS, GEORGE H 49 

WILSON, HENRY ; 28 

WINDOM, WILLIAM 233 

WRIGHT, GEORGE G 235 

6 



ULYSSES S. G LI A NT, 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 




, ,iLYSSES S. GEANT was born in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, 
Jl April 27, 1822. His parents were of Scotch extrac- 
tion, and had settled in Ohio several years before the 
birth of their eldest son. He received his early education 
by attending at intervals the village school. The first book which 
his mother put into his hands after he had learned to read was 
Weems's Life of Washington, which made a deep impression upon 

his mind. 

On the first of July, 1839, at the age of seventeen, he entered the 
West Point Military Academy as a cadet. Owing to limited op- 
portunities for early preparation his course was by no means easy, 
but he applied himself diligently, making steady and satisfactory 
progress. In French, Drawing, and Mathematics he was very pro- 
ficient, and as a rider he was the best in the institution. He was 
popular with his comrades, who regarded hira as a youth ot marked 
common sense, who performed his duties quietly, without ostenta- 
tion or display. Having completed his tmr years' course, he 
graduated in 1843, at the age of twenty-one. tie was immediately 
appointed to the Fourth Infantry, and in 1844 was ordered to Texas 
to watch the Mexican army. In the spring of 1845 he shared in 
the glories of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, and Monterey. At 
the battle of Molino del Key, and during the remainder of the 
operations before the city of Mexico, he behaved with such gal- 
lantry that he was promoted to Brevet First Lieutenant, and for 
his courage at the battle of Chapultepec he was shortly afterward 
promoted to a Brevet Captaincy. 

Immediately after the close of the Mexican war Captain Grant 
returned to the United States, and shortly thereafter he married 



8 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



Miss Julia B. Dent, daughter of Colonel Frederick Dent, of St. 
Louis. In 1852 he was ordered to the Pacific Coast, and while 
serving in Oregon he was promoted to a full Captaincy. In 1854, 
finding a soldier's life wearisome in those wilds, he resigned his 
commission and returned to the East. His father-in-law having 
presented his wife with a farm near St. Louis, he built a log house 
upon it for his family, and applied himself with industry to the 
cultivation of the soil. After four years of constant, but not very 
profitable, labor he gave up farming, and removed to Galena, 
Illinois, where he became a partner with his father and a brother 
in the leather trade. He devoted himself to his new business with 
the same energy which had marked his career as a soldier and a 
farmer. The firm of " Grant & Sons " soon acquired an excellent 
reputation among business men throughout the State. 

When the national flag was fired on at Fort Sumter, Grant's 
patriotism and military ardor were aroused together. " I have 
served my country through one war," he said to a friend, " and, live 
or die, will serve her through this." He immediately began recruit- 
ing and drilling a company in the streets of Galena, and in four 
days after Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men he went 
with it to Springfield. Governor Yates, feeling the need of his 
military education and experience in organizing the army of volun- 
teers assembling at Springfield, at once appointed him Adjutant- 
General of the State. In this position his services were 
invaluable. 

It was soon evident that his military talents were of so high an 
order as to demand for him active service in the field. On the 
15th day of June, 1861, he received a commission as Colonel of the 
Twenty-fij'st Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. Information having 
been received that the guerillas of Missouri threatened Quincy, on 
the Mississippi, Grant was ordered to the exposed point, marching 
his regiment one hundred and twenty miles for lack of transporta- 
tion. From Quincy he was ordered to a point on the Missouri 
River to guard the Hannibal and Hudson Railroad. In this service 
there was little opportunity for distinction, nevertheless he showed 

8 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 9 

such efficiency that he was soon after promoted to the rank of 
Brigadier-GeneraL 

In September General Grant was placed in command of the dis- 
trict of South-east Missouri, with his head-quarters at Cairo, Illinois. 
Hearing of Polk's intention of investing Paducah, Kentucky, he 
immediately fitted up an expedition, and on the 5th of September 
steamed up the river. He landed two regiments and a battery, 
and, without firing a shot, took possession of Paducah. He im- 
mediately issued a proclamation in which he urged the people to 
pursue their usual avocations without alarm, assuring them that 
he had come among them "not as an enemy but as a fellow- 
citizen." 

Satisfied that the enemy was gathering troops and supplies at 
Columbus for operations in Missouri, Grant, on the 6th of Novem- 
ber, embarked his forces, and dropped down to Island Number One, 
eleven miles above Columbus. The troops landed on the Missouri 
shore, and marched about three miles to Belmont, where the rebels 
occupied a camp strongly intrenched. Grant moved on their 
works, and while at the head of the skirmish line had his horse 
shot under him. The fight was very severe for about four hours, 
but finally General Grant ordered a charge, and drove the enemy 
through their encampment. Thousands of them took refuge on 
tlieir "transports, but many prisoners were taken, and all their 
artillery was captured. After this success, when General Grant 
was marching his forces back to the transports, he was intercepted 
by a large rebel force from Columbus who were confident of cuttmg 
off his return to the river. "We are surrounded," excitedly ex- 
claimed an aide riding up. "Very well," said General Grant, 
"we must cut our way out as we cut our way in. We have 
whipped them once, and I think we can do it again." They did 
cut their way through thirteen regiments of infantry and three 
squadrons of cavalry. They regained their boats and returned to 
Cairo, after having taken one hundred and fifty prisoners, and de- 
stroyed much material of war. 

On the first of February, 1862, the War Department ordered 

9 



10 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



the reduction of Fort Henry, on tlie Tennessee River, and Fort 
Donelson. on tlie Cumberland, for tiie purpose of establisliing points 
of operation against Memphis, Cohnnbus, and Nashville. This 
duty was assigned to General Grant, with a land force of seventeen 
thousand men, and to Commodore Foote, with a fleet of seventeen 
gunboats. Fort Ilenry with seventeen heavy guns, and garrisoned by 
twenty-eight hundred men, was captured on the 6th of February. 

Early on the morning of the 12th General Grant, with eight light 
batteries and a main column of fifteen thousand men, commenced his 
march to Fort Donelson, twelve miles across the country. Fort 
Donelson was situated on a rocky eminence which commanded the 
rivei for several miles above and below. Numerous batteries, pro- 
tected by strong works, threw thirty-two and sixty-four pound shot 
Bastions, rifle-pits, and abatis opposed every approach. Twenty 
thousand soldiers manned the works, commanded by Generals 
Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd. Before noon on the 12th the rebel 
pickets were driven in by Grant's advance, and before dark the fort 
was invested on all its land sides. The next day, with continuous 
skirmishing, the investment was drawn closer to the works. On the 
following day the enemy made a vigorous attack, which was re- 
pulsed. General Grant ordered a charge, which was vigorously 
made, and after a fierce struggle he gained a part of the intrench- 
ments. Under cover of the night two of the rebel generals, with as 
many of their troops as could be embarked on steamers, abandoned 
the fort and ascended the river. Early on the following morning 
General Buckner dispatched a note to General Grant proposing an 
armistice in which to consider terms of capitulation. General 
Grant replied, "No terms except unconditional and immediate sur- 
render can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your 
works." Buckner made haste to accept the terms imposed. Ten 
thousand prisoners of war, sixty-five guns, seventeen thousand six 
himdred small arms, with an immense amount of military stores, 
fell into the hands of the victors. 

This brilliant victory, penetrating, as it did, the rebel line of de- 
fense west of tlie Alleghany Mountains, occasioned great rejoicing 

10 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. H 

throui^liout the North. Secretary Stanton reconnnended General 
Grant^'for a Major-General's commission. President Lincoln nomi- 
nated him to the Senate the same day. The Senate at once con- 
firmed the nomination. The new military district of Tennessee 
was now assigned him. 

The succes^sful General did not rest idly upon his laurels. He 
took immediate possession of Nashville, on the Cumberland, but 
established his headquarters at Fort Henry, that he might also con- 
trol the Tennessee River. It was deemed important to dislodge a 
large force of the enemy concentrating at Corinth. For this pur- 
pose General Grant, with thirty-five thousand men, ascended the 
Tennessee Eiver to Pittsburg Landing. There they were disem- 
barked to await the arrival of General Buell, who was marching 
from Nashville to join them with a force of forty thousand. 
Johnston, the rebel General, in command at Corinth, resolved to 
throw his whole force of seventy thousand men upon Grant and 
annihilate his army before he could be joined by Buell. 

Early on tiie morning of the 6th of April, 1862, the rebel army 
suddenly and unexpectedly attacked the Union troops. Although 
our forces fought with desperation, they were driven nearly three 
miles with dreadful carnage on both sides. Night terminated a 
day of disaster to the Union arms. The rebel general telegraphed 
the news of his success to Eichmond. He had no doubt of an easy 
and complete victory on the morrow. General Grant, however, 
never despaired of the result. No thought of ultimate defeat 
seemed to enter his mind. During the night he reorganized his 
broken forces, and formed a new line of battle. Twenty thousand 
of General Buell's troops, arriving after dark, were placed in posi- 
tion for the coming conflict. Relying upon the remainder of 
Buell's army for a reserve, he disposed all his available force for 
immediate action. With the dawn of day the national army along 
its whole line moved upon the astonished enemy with an impetu- 
osity inspired by confidence of victory. All day the conflict raged 
with terrific fury, and at night the discomfited foe retreated to 

their intrenchments at Corinth, having lost nearly twenty thousand 

■1-1 



11 



12 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

men. General Grant's loss was over twelve thousand men. This 
victory, thougli costly, was of inestimable value to the Union cause, 
giving, as it did, our armies the key to a large extent of the 
southern country, and opening the Mississippi to Memphis. 

The Union forces then advanced to the siege of Corinth, where 
the enemy had strongly intrenched themselves. They abandoned 
the place before the advance of the national forces, who occupied 
their works. General Grant made Memphis his headquarters, 
when he took immediate and successful measures to suppress the 
crafty secessionists and unscrupulous traders who infested that city. 
He put negroes to useful employment, and in a short time, under 
his wise administration, order and security reigned. On the 17th 
of Sei)tember General Grant made an advance on the enemy at 
luka. After a stubborn resistance they evacuated that place on 
the night of the 19th. On the 3d of October the enemy, number- 
ing forty thousand, attacked Grant's defenses at Corinth, but after 
a sanguinary conflict, lasting imtil noon of the 4th, the rebels re- 
treated, leaving their dead and wounded on the field. On the 8th 
of October General, Grant received a congratulatory order from 
President Lincoln. Envious of the successful general, a few days 
after the victory of Corinth certain persons waited on President 
Lincoln and acciised him of being a drunkard. After patiently 
listening to the story, he repliedj " I wish all my generals would 
drink Grant's whisky." 

The next great military movement was made upon Yicksburg, 
where the enemy, strongly fortified, commanded the Mississippi. 
General Grant had full power given him to accomplish in his own 
way the capture of this stronghold; By a series of masterly move- 
ments he concentrated an army of fifty thousand men on the land 
side, in a line extending from the Yazoo above to the Mississippi 
below the town. Commodore Porter, with a fleet of sixty vessels 
carrying two hundred and eighty guns, and eight hundred men, 
was directed to co-operate from the river. 

The siege which followed was one of the most memorable in 
history. It began early in February, 1863, and during the months 

12 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 13 

it was protracted scarcely a day passed without a sanguinary battle. 
Shot and shell from the gunboats and batteries compelled the in- 
habitants to burrow in the hillsides for security. Assaults by the 
national troops were repulsed with such terrible loss that it seemed 
the only hope of reducing the stronghold was in regular siege 
operations. 

In the progress of the siege a mine was dug under one of the 
most important batteries of the enemy and charged with two 
thousand pounds of powder. At length, on the 25th of June, 
1865, the mine was ready to do its work of destruction. The ex- 
plosion was to be the signal for a simultaneous attack by land and 
water. At three o'clock in the afternoon the mine exploded, and 
immediately, over a line of twelve miles in length, the storm of 
battle opened upon the city with intense fury. 

But the defense was as determined as the assault, and the doomed 
city still held out. When General Grant was asked if he could 
take the place, he replied, " Certainly. I cannot tell exactly when 
I shall take the town, but I mean to stay here till I do, if it takes 
me thirty years." 

The final assault was to take place on the 4th of July, but on 
the day before a white flag appeared on the rebel works, and soon 
after two officers came out with a communication from Pembcrton 
proposing an armistice for arranging terms of surrender. Grant 
replied that "unconditional surrender" only would be accepted. 
General Pemberton, hoping to obtain more favorable terms, urged 
a personal interview. The two generals met at three o'clock under 
an oak-tree less than two hundred feet from the rebel lines. Grant 
adhered to his demand, and the rebel commander, knowing that 
further resistance would be vain, after conferring with his officers 
accepted the terms imposed. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 
eighty-seventh anniversary of American Independence, white flags 
were raised along the rebel lines aimouncing their surrender. 
General Grant, with his staff, at the head of his army, entered the 
city and took possession of the works so gloriously won. The sur- 
render included one hundred and seventy-two cannon and over 

13 



u 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



thirty thousand prisoners of war. The fall of Vicksburg was the 
most disastrous blow which had thus far been inflicted on the re- 
bellion. Its immediate effect was to open the Mississippi from 
Cairo to the Gulf. 

General Grant would have moved inimediately upon Mobile, 
but he received orders from Washington to co-operate with Genernl 
Banks in a movement upon Texas. Accordingly, on the 30th of 
August he left Vicksburg for New Orleans. In that city he was 
thrown from his horse, receiving injuries which disabled liim for 
months. 

In East Tennessee affairs were not moving prosperously for the 
Union cause. Tiie battle of Chickamauga had resulted in the loss 
to the national troops of sixteen thousand men. They took posi- 
tion behind their intrenchments at Chattanooga, their lines of 
communication were cut off, and they were threatened with de- 
struction bj' a rebel force of eiglity thousand men. In this emer 
gency General Grant was, on the 16th of October, 1863, assigned 
to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, in- 
cluding the De]iartments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the 
Tennessee. On the 19th of October he telegraphed to General 
Thomas, "Hold Chattanooga at all hazards. I will be there as 
soon as possible." On tlie evening of the 23d he entered Chat- 
tanooga, and his arrival at once put a new aspect upon affairs. 
At once he ajiplied himself witli immense energy to the work of 
making sure his lines of communication, hastening reinforcements, 
and securing supplies. " The enemy," said the " Richmond En- 
quirer," " were out-fought at Chickamauga, but the present position 
of affairs looks as though we liad been out-generaled at Chat- 
tanooga." 

General Sherman, with the Fifteenth Army Corps, had marched 
his army from the Mississippi as rapidly as possible. At midnight, 
on the 23d of November, he crossed the Tennessee, above Chat- 
tanooga, and took a position to attack the enemy's riglit north of 
Missionary Ridge. The next day General Hooker stormed Lookout 

Mountain, on the enemy's extreme left, and gained a brilliant 

14 



ULiSSES S. GRANT. 



15 



vie 
dav 



tory in the memorable " battle above the clouds." Hie next 
.,.vv- the battle was opened along the whole line, the main attack 
being at the center, from an elevation where General Grant took 
position. The Union forces, led by generals whose names have 
became immortal, fought with a patriotic ardor which has never 
been surpassed. For miles the mountains and valleys were ablaze 
with the lightning of battle. The conflict raged with terrific fury 
during all the hours of that memorable day, but when night came 
the national flag floated over all the works which the enemy had 
held with so much apparent security in the morning. General 
Grant telegraphed to Washington, " Lookout Mountain top, all the 
rifle-pits in Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Kidge entire, have 
been carried and are now held by us." 

This brilliant victory was one of the most decisive steps toward 
the final overthrow of the rebellion. The scale in the west turned 
irretrievably against the Confederacy when its armies were hurled 
from the summits of Look-out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. 
Still General Grant did not rest. He pursued the routed foe to- 
ward Atlanta, capturing thousands of prisoners, and securing im- 
mense supplies. 

General Grant had now three vast armies under his command, 
occupying over a thousand miles in extent. Feeling the weight of 
responsibilities resting upon him, he wished to acquaint himself 
personally with the condition of his command. In mid-winter, 
through storms and drifting snows which incumbered the mountain 
passes, on horseback he visited the outposts of his army through an 
extent of country from Knoxville, on the one hand, to St. Louis on 

the other. 

A grateful country honored the soldier whose vigorous blows had 
told so terribly on the rebellion. A resolution was passed in Con- 
gress presenting the thanks of that body to General Grant and the 
officers and soldiers under his command. A gold medal was 
ordered to be struck off and presented to General Grant. On the 
4th of February, 1864, Congress revived the rank of Lieutenant- 
General, which was conferred upon General Grant. He was sum- 

15 



16 



ULYSSES S. GBANT. 



nioncd to W;l^hillgt^)Il tu receive his credentials, and to enter upon 
the command of all the armies of the United States. As he made 
his rapid journey to the capital multitudes gathered at every rail- 
road station to catch a glimse of the man whose achievements sur- 
passed those of any otiier living General. He was received by 
President Lincoln with cordiality characteristic of a noble soul in 
which no spai-k of jealousy ever found a lodgment. 

On the 9th of March, in the executive mansion, in the presence 
of the Cabinet and other distinguished persons. General Grant 
received his commission as Lieutenant-General. President Lincoln 
having uttered some appropriate words of congratulation. General 
Grant replied : 

" Mr. President, I accept this commission with gratitude for the 
high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies who have 
fought in so many battles for our common country, it will be my 
earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the 
full weight of the responsibility now devolving upon me. I know 
that if it is properly met it will be due to these armies, and above 
all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and 



men. 



General Grant now concentrated all his energies upon the work 
of crushing the rebellion and terminating the war by the destruc- 
tion of the rebel 'armies. He determined to concentrate the armies 
of the United States in a general attack upon the Confederate 
capital. The veteran Generals of the Union, with their splendid 
commands of tried soldiers, were assigned their several parts in 
the impending struggle. 

General Grant established his head-quarters with t!ie army of 
the Potomac, which was encamped among the hills north of the 
Rapidan. Here he massed all his available forces preparatory to 
an attack upon General Lee, who occupied the s6uth side of the 
river witii as bravo an army as ever went to battle. 

At midnight, on the third of May, 186i, General Grant left his 
camp with an army one hundred and fifty thousand strong, and 
crossed tlie Rapidan a few miles below the intrenchments of the 

16 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 17 

enemy. In tliree columns the army penetrated the Wilderness, 
hoping by a flank movement to gain the rear of the enemy. At 
noon on the 5th General Lee, with an immense force, suddenly- 
emerged from the forest, and fell upon the center of Grant's ex- 
tended line, hoping to cut it in two, and then destroy each part 
piece-meal. The battle raged with tremendous fury during the 
remainder of the day, and when night came no less than six thou- 
sand had fallen between the two armies on the bloody field. 

At the rising of the morrow's sun the battle was renewed. No 
army ever had a braver or more determined foe. The forest was 
ablaze with the fire of battle in the face of the enemy, who contested 
every inch of ground, but by nightfall had been driven back tw(. 
miles from where the battle opened in the morning. The third 
day of the battle of the Wilderness was distinguished by the retrcai 
of the enemy toward his intrenchments near Spottsylvania Courl 
house. After a series of bloody battles extending through the en 
tire day, the rebels reached their intrenchments in the night. Earl\ 
on the following morning, which was Sunday, General Granl fel 
upon their works, and after a long day of battle the enemy svere 
driven from their first line of intrenchments with the loss oi 
twenty-five hundred prisoners. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednea 
day the battle raged with constantly augmenting fury. The latter 
day was signalized by fourteen hours of unremitting battle, and a1 
its close General Grant, after announcing to the Government the 
results achieved, added, " I propose to fight it out on this line if n 
takes all summer." 

During the night the national troops marched by another llai.l- 
movement, and before dawn had gained a series of ridges two miles 
beyond the Spottsylvania Court house. But the enemy, ever on 
the alert, had already manned intrenchments before them which 
had previously been prepared to resist any such movement toward 
Richmond. General Grant attacked their intrenchments, but they 
were too strong to be taken by assault. At night he sent a force 
of cavalry ten miles forward to seize a station on the Eichmond 
and Fredericksburg Railroad, and in the morning the whole army 

17 



18 ULYSSES ? GRANT. 

followed. B}' this advance of General Grant the rebels were left 
nearly twelve miles in his rear. General Lee was alarmed. He 
feared that his line of eomnumication might be cut oflF, and that 
General Grant might take the Confedederate capital without his 
being able to strike a blow in its defense. In haste he abandoned 
his position, and hastened toward another line of defense on the 
banks of the North Anna river. Both armies moved rapidly by 
parallel lines until they confronted each other on the banks of the 
North Anna, within forty miles of Richmond. Here Lee being 
l(i< strongly intrenched to be successfully attacked, General Grant, 
coTicealing his purpose by a strong demonstration, inarched rapidly 
In a point on the Pamnnky river, within fourteen miles of Eich- 
III" ind. He crossed the Pamnnky, and on Wednesday morning, 
June 1, he was with his army at Cold Harbor face to face with the 
nimy of General Lee, now concentrated behind the defenses of 
Ivichmond. These works, bristling with guns, were achievements 
' 1 the highest engineering skill, and were manned by hosts of brave 
find determined defenders. There followed a week of as deperate 
:md determined fighting as the war had witnessed. Day after day 
fhe brave battalions of the Union army were hurled against the 
lebels. It was evident that the time had not come for the capture 
n1 these works. The emergency displayed the resources of the 
Commanding General in devising and executing a movement bold 
us it was brilliant. Concealing his operations under a fire of skir- 
iiiisiiers. General Grant, with the mass of his army, commenced 
HHOther flank movement. Descending the left bank of the Chicka- 
li.iiuiny, he crossed it several miles below the enemy's lines, and by 
.M rapid march reached the James River, and crossed it on pontoon 
bridges. By this brilliant movement he placed his forces in rear 
of Lee's army, south of Richmond. After effecting a junction with 
General Butler at Bermuda Hundred on the 15th of June, he crossed 
the Appomattox and commenced an attack on Petersburg. 

General Lee, startled at hearing the thunder of Grant's cannon 
far to the south of him, made haste to abandon his now useless 
ramparts and turn bis army to the defense of Richmond in another 

]8 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



19 



Quarter A triple liue of intrenchments reared for the defense of 
Petersburg were manned by soldiers who fought with the valor of 
desperation. After a terrible struggle the outer line was captured, 
with sixteen guns and three hundred prisoners. After two days 
more of bloody battle, whose scenes can never be adequately de- 
scribed Genei-al Lee abandoned his second line, and conceT.trated 
all his strength for the defense of his inner works. In those three 
days of battle the Union Army lost ten thousand men m killed, 
wounded, and missing. It was evident that Petersburg, which was 
the key to Richmond, was defended by works so strong that they 
could only be taken by siege. 

Firmly, as in a vice. General Grant held the bulk ot the rebel 
army, while General Sherman led a resistless host from Atlanta 
in a rapid and desolating march through Georgia and the Carolmas 
to co-operate with the army before the ramparts of RK-hmond 
The Eebellion was tottering to its fall under the wise policy which 
placed General Grant at the head of the Armies of the United 
States He comprehended the situation with the perception ot a 
statesman and the intuition of a military genius, as the following 
extract from one of his official reports will show : 

"From an earlv period in the Rebellion I have been impressed 
with the idea that the active and continuous operations ot all the 
troops that could be brought into the field, regardless of season and 
weather, was necessary to a speedy termination of the wan From 
the first I was firm in the conviction that no peace could be had 
that would be stable, and conducive to the happiness of the people, 
both North and South, until the military power of the Eebelhon 
was entirely broken. I therefore determined, first, to use the 
greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force ot 
the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different 
seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and trom 
the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary sup- 
plies for car'rying on resistance; second, to hammer continually 
ac^ainst the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until by 
mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to 



20 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

him but an eqnal submission, with the loyal section of our commoi. 
country, to tiie Constitution and laws of the land." 

"Weeks and months rolled on, every day being signalized by im- 
portant military operations. General Grant was constantly making 
progress toward the end he kept continually in view— the destruc- 
tion of " the military power of the Rebellion." It was near the 
end of March, 1865. General Sherman having swept through the 
heart of the Confederacy, had turned his victorious soldiers north- 
ward, and formed a junction wjth forces sent by General Grant to 
njeet him. 

It was evident that the days of the Eebellion were numbered. 
It was feared by General Grant that the beleaguered enemy might 
niake his escape from Richmond, and protract for a time his hope- 
less struggle. Seeing indications of such a purpose on the part of 
General Lee, Grant hurled his whole army at once upon the rebel 
lines. For three days the battle raged with a fury which no previ- 
ous conflicts had surpassed. Lee was convinced that he could 
not resist the assault of another day, and on the night of the 3d of 
April fled, with the shattered remnants of his army. The National 
troops entered the abandoned works, and immediately the nation 
was electrified by the joyful news: 

" Richmond and Petersburg are ours. A third part of Lee's arm}' 
is destroyed. For the remainder there is no escape." 

In anticipation of the flight of Lee from Richmond, General 

Grant had placed the Fifth Corps in such a position that it was 

thrown in front of the enemy, and thus cut off his retreat. Lee's 

army was now at the mercy of General Grant. The rebel troops 

were so hemmed in, and so exposed to shot and shell, that a few 

hours would have sufficed for their destruction. Sympathy for 

them induced General Grant to make the first advances, and urge 

General Lee to surrender and spare him the pain of destroying the 

heroic but misguided soldiers of the Rebellion. Lee asked the 

terms of surrender which would be accepted, and General Grant 

replied. " Peace being my first desire, there is but one condition 1 

insist upon, namelv, that the men surrendered shall be disqualified 

20 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



21 



for taking up anus against tiie Government of the United States 
until properly exclianged." General Lee proposed an interview, 
that he and General Grant might confer upon the " restoi'ation of 
peace." General Grant's reply indicates his wise perception of the 
only responsibility which rested upon him : 

"As I have nu authority to treat on the subject of peace, the 
meeting proposed could lead to no good. I will state, however, 
General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the 
whole JNorth entertains the same feeling. The terras upon which 
peace may be had are well understood. By the South laying down 
their arms they will hasten this most desirable event, save thou- 
sands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet 
destroyed." 

General Lee saw that delay or parley would serve no useful 
purpose with such a man. On the afternoon of the 9th of April 
he accepted the simple and decisive terms of surrender imposed 
by General Grant. All the material of war was to be given up, 
and the officers and men to give their parole not to serve against 
the United States until exchanged. Johnston surrendered to 
General Sherman a few days later. The great Rebellion was at 
an end. A grateful country acknowledged that the chief instru- 
ment in bringing about this happy i-csult was General Ulysses S. 
Grant. His countrymen heaped honors upon him without parsi- 
mony. Congress revived the grade of General, which none had 
held since Washington, and on the 25th of July, 1865, this peer- 
less military rank was conferred upon General Grant. 

It soon became evident that it was the wish of the people to ele- 
vate him to the Presidency. On the 21st of May, 1868, the Re- 
publican Convention, assembled at Chicago, gave him a unanimous 
nomination as candidate for this high office. He accepted the 
nomination in apt and modest terms, closing with the words, ''Let 
us have peace," which were accepted by a long distracted country 
as auspicious of better days. The twenty-six States which partici- 
pated in the election gave two hundred and fourteen electoral votes 
tor Grant, and eighty for Seymour, the opposing candidate. 

21 



22 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



On the 4th of March, 1869, General Grant entered upon the 
duties of his high office. He surrounded himself with able coun- 
selors, who were fully in accord with him in their purpose to give 
the country an honest and efficient administration. He was suc- 
cessful in the accomplishment of two results apparently incorapati- 
l)le with each other, yet both fortunate for the country — great re- 
duction of internal taxes, and immense diminution of the public 
debt. His humane policy toward the Indians, his generous but 
firm treatment of the lately rebellious States, his judicious steps in 
civil service reform, his wise administration of foreign aflairs, — all 
received the general approval of the people. 

The delegates to the Republican National Convention which as- 
sembled in June, 1872, were instructed by the people, and by ac- 
clamation re-nominated Ulysses S. Grant for the Presidency of the 
United States. He was re-elected by an immense majority, receiv- 
ing two hundred and ninety -two electoral votes against seventj'-four 
for all others. On the 4th of March, 1873, General Grant was in- 
auijurated for his second term as President of the United States. 
His address on the occasion did honor to his head and heart as the 
chief Executive of a great nation. In reviewing the past ho de- 
clared that it had been his purpose to act for the best interests of 
the whole people; that he had occupied the four years just closed in 
the effort to " restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all 
the arts of peace and progress." Looking to the future, he pledged 
himself to a policy as comprehensive and benign as wafs ever con- 
ceived by an enlightened and patriotic statesman. 

In personal character and endowments General Grant is singu- 
larly fitted for his high position. He possesses a mind practical 
and well-balanced; great strength of will with remarkable equa- 
bility of temper. He has a calm independence which is not pliant 
to the purposes of others. He makes up his mind rapidly, and 
forthwith bends every energy to the execution of his purpose. With 
great decision of character he combines profound deference for the 
popular will. He is faithful in his friendship, sincere in his pro- 
fessions, superior to all envv, truthful, honorable, and uiirio-ht. 

22 






4 



c^^z^ 



HENRY "WILSON, 

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 




'ENRY WILSON was bom at Fannington, N. H., Feb- 
ruary 16, 1812, of poor parentage. He was early appren- 
ticed to a farmer in his native town, with whom he contin- 
ued eleven years, during wliich period his school privileges, at dif- 
ferent intei-vals, amounted to about one year. He early formed a 
taste for reading, which he eagerly indulged on Sundays and even- 
ings by fii-e-light and moon-hght. Thus, in the course of his eleven 
years' apprenticeship, he read about 1,000 volumes — mainly of his- 
tory and biography. 

On coming of age, young Wilson left Farmington, and with all his 
possessions packed upon his back, walked to Natick, Mass., and hired 
himself to a shoemaker. Having learned the trade, and labored 
nearly three years, he returned to New Hampshire for the purpose of 
securing an education. His educational career, however, was sud- 
denly arrested by the insolvency of the man to whom he had entrust- 
ed his money, and in 1838 he retm-ned to Natick to resume his trade 
of shoemaking. 

Wilson was now twenty-six years of age, and up to this period his 
life had been mainly devoted to labor. It was in allusion to this that 
when, in 1858, he replied on the floor of Congress to the famous 
"mudsill" speech of Gov. Hammond of South Carolina, he gave ut- 
terance to these eloquent words : 

" Sir, I am the son of a hireling manual laborer, who, with the 
frosts of seventy winters on his brow, 'lives by daily labor.' I, too, 
have 'lived by daily labor.' I, too, have been a ' hireling manual la- 
borer.' Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow over the home of 

23 



HENRY WILSON. 



my cliiidhood ; and want was sometimes there— an unbidden guest. 
At the age of ten years— to aid him who gave me being in keeping 
the gaunt specter from tlie hearth of the mother who bore me— I left 
the home of my boyhood, and went forth to earn my bread by 
' daily labor.' " 

From his youth, Mr. Wilson seems to have been deeply and penna 
nently imbued with the spirit of liostility to Slavery, and few men 
have dealt more numerous or heavy blows against the institution. 
His political career commenced in 1840. During this year he made 
upwards of sixty speeches in behalf of the election of Gen. Harrison. 
In the succeeding five years, he was three times elected a Eepresenta- 
tive, and twice a Senator, to the Massachusetts legislature. Here his 
stern opposition to Slavery was at once apparent, and in 184.5 he was 
selected, with the poet Whittier, to bear to AVasliington the great anti- 
slavery petition of Massachusetts against the annexation of Texas. 
In the same year he introduced in the legislature a resolution declar- 
ing the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to the further extension 
and longer continuance of Slavery in America, and her fixed deter 
mination to use all constitutional and lawful means for its extinction. 
His speech on this occasion was pronounced by the leading anti-sla- 
very jom-nals to be the fullest and most comprehensive on the Slavery 
question that had yet been made in any legislative body in the coun- 
try. The resolution was adopted by a large majority. 

Mr. Wilson was a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 
1848, and on the rejectioD of the anti-slavery resolutions presented 
to that body, he withdrew from it, and was prominent in the organi- 
zation of the Free Soil party. In the following year he was chosen 
chairman of the Free Soil State Committee of Massachusetts— a post 
which he filled during four years. In 1850 he was again a membei 
of the State legislature; and in 1851 and 1852 was a member of the 
Senate, and president of that body. He was also president of the 
Free Soil National Con mention at Pittsburg in 1852, and chairman of 
the National Committee. He was the Free Soil candidate for Con- 
gress in 1852. In 1853 and 1854 he was an unsuccessful candidate 

24 



HENKY WILSON. 3 

foi Governor of Massacliusetts. In 1853 he was an active and influ- 
eniial member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. In 
1855, was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacanc)i 
occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Everett. 

Mr. Wilson took his seat in the Senate in February, 1855, and, by 
a "ote nearly unanimous, has been thrice re-elected to that office. As 
a Senator, he has been uniformly active, earnest, faithful, prominent, 
and influential, — invariably evincing an inflexible and fearless op]>osi- 
tion to Slavery and the slave-power. In his very first speech, made 
a few days after entering the Senate, he announced for himself and 
his anti-slavery friends their uncompromising position. " We mean, 
sir," said he, " to place in the councils of the Nation meii who, in the 
words of Jefferson, have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility 
to every kind of oppression over the mind and body of men." This 
was the key-note of Mr. Wilson's career in the Senate from that day 
to this. 

In the spring of 1856 occurred the assault upon Mr. Sumner by 
Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina. Mr. Wilson — whose fear- 
lessness is equal to his firmness and consistency — denounced this act 
as " brutal, murderous, and cowardly." These words, uttered on the 
floor of the Senate, drew forth a challenge fi-om Mr. Brooks, which 
was declined by Wilson in terms so just, dignified, and manly, as to 
secure the warm approval of all good and right-minded people, 

At the commencement of the rebellion, the Senate assigned to 
Mr. Wilson the Chairmanship of the Military Committee. In view 
of his protracted experience as a member of this committee, joined 
with his great energy and industry, probably no man in the Senate 
was more completely qualified for this most important post. In this 
committee originated most of the legislation for raising, organizing, 
and governing the armies, while thousands of nominations of officers 
of all grades were referred to it. The labors of Mr. Wilson, as 
chairman of the committee, were immense. Important legislation 
affecting the armies, and the thousands of nominations, could not 
but e.xcite the liveliest interest of officers and their friends ; and they 

25 



HENRY WILSON. 



ever freely visited Lim, consulted with, and wrote to him. Private 
soldiers, too, ever felt at liberty to visit liim, or write to him concern- 
ing their aftairs. Thousands did so, and so promptly did he attend 
to their needs that they called him the " Soldier's Friend." 

As clearly as any man in the country, Mr. Wilson, at the com- 
inencement of the rebellion, discerned the reality and magnitude of 
the impending conflict. Hence, at the fall of Fort Sumter, when 
President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men, the clear-sighted Sen- 
ator advised that the call should be for 300,000 ; and immediately in- 
duced the Secretary of War to double the number of regiments 
assigned to Massachusetts. In the prompt forwarding of these troops 
Mr. Wilson was specially active. Throughout that spring, and until 
the meeting of Congress, July iih, he was constantly occupying him- 
self at Washington, aiding the soldiers, working in the hospitals, and 
preparing the necessary military measures to be presented to the na- 
tional legislature. 

Congress assembled ; and, on the second day of the session, Mr. 
Wilson introduced several important bills relating to the military 
wants of the country, one of which was a bill authorizing the employ- 
ment of 500,000 volunteers for three years. Subsequently Mr. Wil- 
son introduced another bill authorizing the President to accept 500,- 
000 volunteei-s additional to those ah-eady ordered to be employed. 
During this extra session, Mr. Wilson, as Chairman of the Military 
Committee, introduced other measures of great importance relating to 
the appointment of army officers, the purchase of arms and muni- 
tions of war, and increasing the pay of private soldiers, — all of 
which measures were enacted. In fact, such was his activity and ef 
ficiency in presenting and urging forward plans for increasing and 
organizing the armies necessary to put down the rebellion, that Gen- 
eral Scott declared of Mr. Wilson that he " had done more work in 
that short session than all the chairmen of the military committees 
had done for the last twenty years." 

After the defeat at Bull Kun, Mr. Wilson was earnestly solicited by 

Mr. Cameron, Mr. Seward, and Viv. Chase, to raise a regiment of in- 

20 



HENRY WILSON. 5 

fantry, a company of Bharp-shooters, and a battery of artillery. Ac- 
cordiuo-ly, retimiing to Massachusetts, he issued a stirring appeal 
to the young men of the State, addressed several public meetings, 
and in forty days he succeeded in rallying 2,300 men. He was com- 
missioned colonel of the Twenty-second Regiment, and with his regi- 
ment, a company of sharp-shooters, and the third battery of artillery, 
he returned to Washington as colonel ; and afterwards, as aid on the 
staff of General McClellan, Mr. Wilson served until the beginning 
of the following year, when pressing duties in Congress forced him 
to resign his military commission. 

Returning to liis seat in the Senate, Mr. Wilson originated and 
carried through several measures of great importance to the interests 
of the army and the country. Among these was the passage of bills 
relating to courts-martial, allotment certiiicates, army-signal depart- 
ment, sutlers and their duties, the army medical department, en- 
couragement of enlistments, making free the wives and children 
of colored soldiers, a uniform system of army ambulances, increas- 
ing still fiu-ther the pay of soldiers, establishing a national mili- 
tary and naval asylum for totally disabled oiEcei-s and men of the 
volunteer forces, eneom-aging the employment of disabled and dis- 
charged soldiers, securing to colored soldiers equality of pay, and 
other wise and judicious provisions. 

Invariably true and constant in his sympathies for the down- 
trodden and oppressed, Mr. Wilson never once forgot the slave, for 
whose freedom and elevation he had consecrated his time and energies 
for more than a quarter of a century. He actively participated in 
the measures culminating in the anti-slavery amendment to the Consti- 
tution. He introduced the bill abolishing Slavery in the District of 
Columbia, by which more than three thousand slaves were made free, 
and Slavery made for ever impossible in the capital of the Nation. He 
introduced a provision, which became a law, May 21, 1862, "provid- 
ing that persons of color in the District of Columbia should be sub- 
ject to the same laws to which white persons were subject; that 

they should be tried for offenses against the laws in the same manner 

27 



6 HENRY WILSON. 

as white persons were tried ; and, if convicted, be liable to the same 
penalty, and no other, as would be inilicted \ipon white persons foi 
the same crime." He introduced the amendment to the Militia Bill 
of 1795, which made negroes a part of the militia, and providing for 
the freedom of all such men of color as should be called into the ser- 
vice of the United States, as well as the freedom of their mothers, 
wives, and children. This, with one or two other measures of a khi- 
dred character, introduced by Mr. Wilson, and urged forward 
through much and persistent opposition, resulted in the freedom of 
nearly 100,000 slaves in Kentucky alone. 

After the close of the war, Mr. Wilson was no less active and in- 
fluential in procuring legislation for the suitable reduction of the army 
tlum he had been in originating measures for its creation. Making an 
extended tour through the Southern States, he delivered numerous 
able and instructive addresses on political and national topics, 
wliicli had a marked eifect in promoting practical reconstruction. 

It was in bis place in the Senate, however, that he performed 
his most effective labors in promoting the great work of recon- 
struction. With the eye of a statesman he surveyed the field, and 
was among the first to discover the means necessary to accomplish 
the desired end. He saw that the foundation of enduring pros- 
perity to the South and peace to the country must be a guarantee 
of civil and political rights to the colored people, firmly imbedded 
"in the Constitution. This having been accomplished, he favored 
the mildest measures which sound statesmanship could devise in the 
treatment of persons recently in rebellion. Though possessed of 
rare kindness of heart, he did not permit his emotions to blind him 
to the necessity of adopting such measures as would insure the 
country against a recurrence of the bloody tragedy of I'ebeliion. 

During all his public life Mr. Wilson has always been bold and 
eloquent in the advocacy of measures tending to give employment 
to working-men, and open to them all possible chances for advance- 
ment. He has been a strong advocate of homestead acts, of laws 
exempting from seizure the poor man's furniture and a portion of 
liie wages, of laws abolishing imprisonment for debt, laws to open 

28 



HENRY WILSON. 7 

the public lands to actual settlers, and laws to reduce the hours 
of labor. He advocated the Eight Hour Law as likely to promote 
•'the material, intellectual, and moral interests of the masses of the 
people, whose lot it was to toil for their subsistence." Of his more 
than thirteen hundred public speeches a large majority have 
been directly in the interests of the people who are doing the 
world's necessary work. 

His sympathies for the unfortunate have been manifested not only 
in word but in deed. He is said to have devoted a large portion 
of his salary as a Senator and his pay as an author to the relief 
of the soldier and the unfortunate. He would never have to do 
with gains which were in any way wrung from the poor or the 
oppressed. While he was engaged in manufacturing shoes one of 
his Southern customers who had failed promised to compromise by 
paying fifty per cent of the indebtedness, but proposed to raise the 
money in part hj the sale of his slaves. Wilson would not hear of 
this, but gave him a full discharge of the whole debt, requesting 
him never to send any dividend unless it could be done from money 
not obtained by the traffic in human beings. 

Mr. Wilson was among the first to declare himself in favor of 
General Grant as the Republican candidate for the Presidency in 
1868. After the nomination he entered with great zeal into the 
canvass, and made some of the ablest speeches of the campaign. 
He gave the administration a steady and consistent support, not 
hesitating, however, in a spirit of candor, to criticise its mistakes. 

President Grant having been unanimously nominated for re-elec- 
tion by the Republican JSational Convention of 1872, the second 
place upon the ticket was assigned to Henry Wilson. This nom- 
ination was every-where received with approval by the party. In 
Wilson they believed they had a candidate who in every emergency 
would do honor to his party and the country. He was elected to 
the Vice-Presidency by an unexpectedly large majority, receiving 
292 out of a total electoral vote of 366. He was inaugurated 
Vice-President on the 4th of March, 1873, amid unusually auspi- 
cious omens for a happy and prosperous term. 

29 



8 HENRY WILSON. 

Mr. Wilson was married in 1840 to Miss Harriet M. Howe, of 
Natick, a young lady of intelligence, amiability, and beauty. Her 
early loss of health prevented her from taking an active part in 
society. She died, much lamented, in May, 1870, after a painful 
illness of several years. Their only child, Lieut.-Col. Hamilton 
Wilson, of the army, died in Texas in 1866, at the age of twenty. 

In early life Mr. Wilson saw the lamentable eflfects of the use of 
alcoholic liquors as a beverage, in causing crime, and keeping the 
common people in their condition of poverty and degradation. He 
resolved to refrain entirely from their use, and to use his utmost in- 
fluence to induce others to do likewise. He founded the Congres- 
sional Temperance Society, and by its agency succeeded in saving 
more than one man of genius from degradation and ruin. 

In 1868 Mr. Wilson became a member of the Congregational 
Church. He has given much of his time, talent, and money in 
forwarding religious enterprises. The elements and traits of Chris- 
tian character which exist in him are not the products of a day, but. 
the growth of years — are not ephemeral but enduring. 

Notwithstanding his cares and labors in the Held of politics, Mr. 
Wilson has accomplished more in literature than many who have 
made it a pursuit. He is the author of a " History of the Anti- 
slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Con- 
gresses," and " History of the Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress." His principal literary work is " The History of 
the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," the first volume 
of which, recently published, has received the approval of the lead- 
ing critics in the country. 

In his personal character Mr. Wilson is without reproach. He 
possesses purity as stainless as when he entered politics, and integ- 
rity as unimpeachable as when first elected to oflSce. He is one of 
the most practical of statesmen, and one of the most skillful of legis- 
lative tacticians. His forte is hard work — the simple and efficient 
means by which he has arisen from humble origin to his present 
high position. 

30 





/^^^^^^U/AC 



^^^"3^. A 



HAMILTON FISH, 

SECRETARY OF STATE. 



AMILTOlSr FISH was born in New York city, August 3, 
wju® 1«08 of an old tamily in high consideration tor wealth 
#k and respectability. He was educated at Columbia College, 
where he n.aintained an excellent character for scholarship. Hav- 
ing graduated, he entered upon the study of law in his native city. 
At the May term in 1^30 he was examined, and adnntted as an 
attorney of 'the Supreme Court of the State. Three years later he 
was regularly enrolled among the counselors of that court. 

Thou<^h his natural abilities and liberal culture ennnently i^tted 
him for ''a brilliant professional career, the cares and respons.bd.ties 
of a large property, that devolved upon him soon after he com- 
n,enced practice, prevented him from devoting that time and 
attention to the legitimate pursuits of bis profession which are 
necessary to attain its highest honors. While he continued at the 
bar, however, his business was both considerable and lucrative. 
He was respected for the fidelity and promptitude with which he 
managed the interests committed to his charge. 

Early in his career he entered the field of politics, as a member 
of the Whig party, in which he soon attained a leading position 
He was for 'several years Commissioner of Deeds for the City and 
Countv of New York. In 1842 he was elected a Kepresentative 
inCon-ress from the Fourth Congressional District of Newlork 
city over Hon. John M'Keon, the Democratic candidate, whotlien 
repi'esented the .listrict. His majority was small, but it was consid- 
ered a great triun.ph by his friends, as the majority of Governor 
Bouck over Mr. Bradish in the same district was about twelve 
hundred. In the Twenty-eighth Congress, to which he was then 
elected, Mr. Fish served on the Military Committee, and dis- 






2 HAMILTON FISn. 

char<i;ed all the duties of his position with commendable punctual- 
itj and faithfulness. 

Mr. Fish was nominated as the "Whig candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor, at the State Convention of 1846, on the same ticket 
with John Yuung. The Anti-Kenters adopted Mr. Gardner, the 
Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, and he was elected 
over Mr. Fish by upward of 13,000 majority. The latter was a 
candidate for the same ofBce at the November election in 18i7, 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Gardner, 
and was elected by a majority of about 30,000. As President 
of the State Senate, Mr. Fish was distinguished by gentlemanly 
courtesy and dignified urbanity. 

Mr. Fish, as Lieutenant-Governor, occupied a position that natu- 
rally attracted the attention of the parly to himself. The Whigs 
were divided into two factions, the Conservative or National, and 
the Radical Whigs — the particular friends of Mr. Seward. The 
sympathies of Mr. Fish were understood to be with the former ; 
but, however decided in his convictions, he was moderate in the 
expression of his opinions, and by his conciliatory course had 
secured the good wishes of both factions. His friends in the city 
of New York urged his nomination for Governor with much earn- 
estness, and such was his general popularity among the Whigs of 
the State, that he was nominated with great unanimity at the 
State Convention held on the 1-ith of September, 1848. The 
Democrats had now divided into two parties, presenting as their 
candidates John A. Dix and Reuben H. Walworth. The vote 
given for Mr. Fish was less than that given for both the Demo- 
cratic candidates, but his plurality over either of them was 
very large. The division in the Den)ocratic party rendered un- 
necessary any effort by the Whigs to secure the victory. 

Mr. Fish took the oath of office as Governor in 1849. He was 
embarrassed by the solicitations made by the radical or conserva- 
tive factions in his party to exert his influence in favor of one or the 
other; but he at all times steadily refused to take part in the con- 
tentions and di\ isions the occurrence of which he so much regretted. 

32 



HAMILTON FISH. 3 

His conduct was generally approved, and his administration passed 
quietly and harmoniously. 

His messages indicated the possession on the part of their author 
of high literary abilities, and were much commended for the modest 
tone in which they were written. During his administration the 
slavery question was agitated in Congress and throughout the 
Union. He was entirely committed in favor of the principle of 
the Wilmot proviso. In his messages he expressed his decided 
opposition to the extension of slave territory. His remarks on this 
exciting question were conservative in their tone, though indicat- 
ing the depth of his convictions, and the firmness with which they 
would be maintained. 

Among the noteworthy recommendations of Governor Fish 
were the endowment of a State Agricultural School and a school 
for instruction in the mechanic arts — the restoration of the office 
of county superintendent of common schools — the management 
and equal taxation of personal property, and the establishment of 
tribunals of conciliation. 

In 1851 Mr. Fish was elected a United States Senator for the 
term ending in 1857. He served on the Committee on Naval 
Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Eelations. His course in 
the Senate gave the highest satisfaction to his friends. His con- 
sistency as a politician, his sagacity as a statesman, his decision of 
character, and his business talent, gave him a prominent place in 
the Senate and before the country. 

At the breaking out of the civil war he gave his influence and 
means to the support of the Government. He was appointed with 
Bishop Ames, in January, 1862, upon a commission to relieve the 
Union prisoners in the South, and succeeded in negotiating a 
general exchange of prisoners of war. 

In 1869 Mr. Fish entered upon the office of Secretary of State 

in the cabinet of President Grant. His administration of this 

important office has been such as to give satisfaction to the 

country, and to increase the respect in which the American name 

is held every-where abroad. His policy lias been eminently one 

33 



4 UAMILTONPISII. 

of peace and conciliation. Chief among tlie achievements of 

recent times is the settlement of the Alabama Claims and of the 

northwest water boundary, by tiie Treaty of Washington, which 

was negotiated in 1871 — principally through the agency of Mr. 

Fish. Tlie culmination of this negotiation in the Tribunal of 

Arbitration, which concluded its important work in September, 

1872, is one of the most signal victories of peace the world has 

ever seen. 

34 





^li^A^a^0-^UJ2( , 



Huii , vVi J .LlAJvi A . KICHABD S ON 
sECKErmKyoF the treasdhs". 



WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON, 

SECKETARY OF THE TREASURY. 



ffl^ILLIAM A RICH AKDSOlSr was born in Tyngsborough, . 
1 'Massachusetts, November 2, 1821. His father, Hon. 
Daniel Richardson, was a lawyer ofreputation, and his father s 
brother, William M. Richardson, was Chief-Justice of New Hamp- 
shire He prepared for college at Groton (now Lawrence) Acad- 
emy, and graduated at Harvard in 1843. He was "-^e Master ot 
Arts and Bachelor of Laws at the same institution in 1846. He 
was admitted to the Boston bar on motion of the late Governor 
Andrew, July 8, 1846, and immediately settled in the practice o 
the law with his brother, Hon. Daniel S. Richardson, at Lowell, 

where they resided. , , . ^ ^ «? • i 

In the year of his admission to the bar he accepted his first official 
position, that of Judge Advocate of the Massachusetts Mihtia, 
which he held for four years. He was appointed aid-de-camp to 
Governor Boggs in 1850. 

His admitted talents were early recognized by calls to fill stations 
of honor and responsibility. In 1849 he was chosen to tlie Lowel 
Common Council, also in 1853 and 1854, and was made President 
of that body. In 1853 he was one of the Corporators ot the Low- 
ell Five Cents Savings Bank-appointed one of the Trustees and 
npon the Finance Committee, which trusts he still continues 
to discharge. The new institution was a financial novelty 
in that day, but experience has demonstrated the wisdom which 
devised and perfected it. _ 

His abilities as a financier were recognized by his appomtment 
as President of the Wamesit (now National) Bank in 1859, which 

35 



WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 



he held until Jauuary, 1S67 ; also, with the exception of that time, 
he was a Director of the Appleton Bank, Lowell, from October, 
1853, until his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury, when he 
resigned. He held the important office of President of the Mid- 
dlesex Mechanics' Association in Lowell for two j'ears, and exercised 
a controlling influence in a thorough remodeling and reorganizing 
of that influential institution. 

In 1S55 he was appointed to revise the General Statutes of the 
Commonwealth, having as associates in this laborious work Hon. 
Joel Parker and A. A. Richmond. This occupied a period of four 
years, and resulted in tlie " General Statutes of Massachusetts," 
enacted in 1859. Tlie amount of labor, patient stud}', and legal 
skill required in mastering so much complication, and bringing the 
mass into harmonious order, may be imagined by all ; but its suc- 
cessful accomplishment can only be appreciated by an experienced 
professional mind. Tiie fidelity of this great work led the Legisla- 
ture, in 1859, to appoint Mr. Richardson (then Judge) Chairman of 
the Committee to edit the General Statutes, Judge Sanger being 
joined with him in the work ; and by a further Act, in 1867, he 
was charged with a continuance of this duty, which he has per- 
formed annually from that time. 

Again, at the extra session of the Legislature, in November, 1872, 
he was appointed, with Judge Sanger, to edit a new edition of The 
General Statutes, and the Supplement thereto, in consequence of 
the destruction of the original plates in the great fire, and the same 
were published early in the year 1873, in two volumes of more than 
twelve hundred pages each. 

In April, 1856, he entered upon the duties of Judge of Probate 
for Middlesex County, by appointment of the Governor and Coun- 
cil, succeeding Hon. S. P. P. Fay, who had held the office for thirty- 
five years preceding. On the consolidation of the office of Judge 
of Insolvency with that of Judge of Probate, in May, 1868, he was 
appointed to the new position of Judge of Probate and Insolvency, 
and remained in it until A})ril, 1872, when he resigned the charge ; 
a period of s'xteen years fnmi his first taking office as Judge of 

36 



WILLIAM A.RICHARDSON. 3 

Probate. The same industry whicli he has exhibited in so many 
other instances was manifested in a revisal of tlie entire mass of old 
Probate blanks and Probate practice, with resnlts approved by the 
Supreme Court, and adopted throughout the Commonwealth in 
1862. Although this work was done by authority of a Committee 
of Judges, yet it was Judge Richardson who performed the sub- 
stantial labor. It was bringing order out of chaos almost literally. 

Amid these multiplied demands upon his time, he was appointed 
one of the Trustees of Lawrence Academy in 1862, and one of 
the Overseers of Harvard College in 1863 ; and again, under the 
new law, in 1869 ; he has held these appointments from the iirst, 
and holds them still. In 1860 he found it necessary to remove his 
law office from Lowell to Boston, and his residence to Cambridge. 
In April of 1869 he was appointed and commissioned Judge of the 
Superior Court of Massachusetts, but declined the honor. 

He had long been well known to Governor Boutwell, who resided 
in the same county, and as soon as the latter was appointed Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, March 11, 1869, he telegraphed to Mr. Rich- 
ardson to come to Washington, and take the position of Assistant 
Secretary, to which he was appointed March 20, 1869, without 
previous consultation with him. He not only was taken by surprise 
when the appointment was offered him, but he accepted it at last 
with reluctance, and by earnest persuasion. And even after he had 
tilled the otEce with distinguished credit, he repeatedly sought to 
escape by tendering his resignation. But it was never accepted. 
He was immediately designated by the President to be Acting 
Secretary of the Treasury during any absence of Mr. Boutwell, and 
under that designation was in fact Acting Secretary for nine months 
while he held the office of Assistant, and for a short time in 1870 
was also Acting Attorney-General by a like designation. 

During this busy life he found time to write other books, beside 
revising and editing the Statutes of Massachusetts, having pub- 
lished " The Banking Laws of Massachusetts " in 1855, and a most 
valuable and comprehensive volume in 1872, entitled "Practical 
Information concerning the Public Debt of the United States: 

37 



4 WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 

with the National Banking Laws ;" a second edition of wliicli was 
printed iu this country, and a third edition in England in 1873. 

One would think that a man surrounded by so many responsi- 
bilities and such varied demands upon his time would be borne 
down by the constant drudgery of thinking and working. But 
Judge Richardson took his vacations of foreign travel as well as 
men of more elegant leisure. He spent some five or six months of 
the year 1865 in Europe ; and again seven months of 1867 ; extend- 
ing liis studies and trip the latter year as far as Russia. 

In June, 1871, while still Assistant Secretary, he was sent to 
Europe by Mr. Boutwell, the Secretary, as confidential agent, to 
negotiate abroad the new five per cent, funded loan, in which un- 
dertaking, amid much discouragement, he was eminently successful, 
having, in a few months, interested bankers and inventors in tlie 
loan, and organized a plan upon which he disposed of a large 
amount of bonds while there, and on wliich the funding of the 
public (iebt lias since been continued. He had witli liim Mr. J. P. 
Bigelow, Chief of the Loan Division, and some thirty-five clerks, 
through whom he delivered seventy-six millions of dollars of the 
new bonds to subscribers, received payment therefor, and invested 
the proceeds in outstanding bonds which he received, canceled, and 
returned to the Department at Washington. In March, 1872, he 
returned home, and the accounts were settled by the accounting 
officers of the Treasury without a single ei-ror in the whole transac- 
tion. At one time the money had so accumulated in his hands, that 
he had on deposit in the Bank of England sixteen or seventeen 
millions of dollars. 

On the 17th of March, 1873, upon the transfer of Mr. iBoutwell 
to the Senate of tiie United States as Senator from Massachusetts, 
Mr. Ricliardson was nominated, x;nanimously confirmed, and ap- 
pointed by President Grant to be Secretary of the Treasury. 

Mr. Richardson is Honorary Vice-President of the New England 

Historic-Genealogical Society, and has the degree of Doctor of Laws 

conferred by Columbian University at Washington. L. R. s. 

38 



COLUMBUS DELAS-Q 

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 



^^SOLUMBUS DELANO was born at Shoreham, Vermont, in 
'^^ the year 1809. At eight years of age he removed to Ohio, 
^§2 i° *^^ ^^'■^ °^ immediate relatives, who settled in the county 
of Knox. His bovhood was passed in the lighter avocations of the 
tarra, joined with persistent devotion to study. He pursued his ele- 
inentary education at such schools as were then available, learning 
the Latin language with but little aid from classical teachers. His 
historical reading at the age of eighteen was extensive. With a se- 
riousness becoming his disposition, rather than his years, he began 
thus early to consider how he should make his way in the world, and 
what pathway was to lead him out of obscurity to a useful position 
in life. Without the aid of influential friends, but cheered with the 
encourac^ing words of those who knew and loved him, he determmed 
to undertake the study of law. 

In 1829 he entered the office of Hosmer Curtis, Esq., then a noted 
special pleader, practicing at Mount Vernon, Ohio. After three 
years of preparation he was admitted to the bar, in 1832, and com- 
mf uced practice at M.junt Vernon at the age of twenty-two. 

Though no display of talent had been exhibited to justify the ex- 
pectation that he would triumph suddenly over the formidable obsta- 
cles in the way of the young attorney, his success was immediate. 
He had the good fortune to be employed as junior counsel in a 
local suit, involving important legal questions and considerable estate. 
Having been left by an accident to the sole management of the case, 
he was triumphantly successful, and thus gained a reputation, the 
immediate effect of which was his election as prosecuting-attorney 
in a county adverse to his politics. After three years' service he was 
re-elected, but immediately resigned the trust, which interfered with 

39 



2 COLUMBUS DELANO. 

liis general practice. His constant attention upon the courts for a 
period of ten J'cars, his uniform success as an advocate, his thorough- 
ness and integrity as a lawyer, met with ample rewai-d. 

In politics he has ever been opposed to Slavery and the Demo 
cratic policy. Seeking no office while pursuing his profession., lie 
was still the occasional exponent of the "Whig party in local contests. 
Surrounded by a cordon of Democratic counties, there seemed to be 
little hope for his popular preferment. But being unanimously 
nominated for Congress by the Whigs of his district, in -1844, he was 
elected by a majority of twelve over his Democratic competitor, 
Hon. Caleb J. McNulty, a gentleman of extensive popularity, re- 
soui-ces and power. The Democratic candidate for Governor received 
600 majority in the same district, at the same election. On the Ist 
of December, 1845, Mr. Delano took his seat in the Twenty-ninth 
Congress, serving on the Committee on Invalid Pensions. This was 
an epoch in Congressional history. Contemporaneous with Mr. Polk's 
administration, it comprised men of great experience and ability. 
The measures of war and conquest, of Oregon and Mexico, were the 
vexed questions of that day, the evil shadows of which lengthened 
into the future. On the Oregon question, Mr. Delano advocated 
the claims for the largest measure of territory against the settlement 
which eventually prevailed. On the 11th of May, 1846, he voted 
with John Quincy Adams, and twelve others, against the declaration 
that " war existed by the act of Mexico," defending his votes and 
t!ie action of his associates by a speech in the House. Put forwai-d 
as a leader of the fourteen who voted against the false declaration, 
he fully answered their expectations, but without the politician's cir- 
cumspection as to the future. The speech made great contention, 
and was regarded of so much significance that Mr. Douglas, of Illi 
nois, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, Mr. Chipman, of Missouri, and Mr. 
Tibbatt's, of Kentucky, gave themselves serious concern to answer it. 

His district having been changed by special legislation, Jie was not 

a candidate for re-election, but i-etired to close up his business in the 

courts. His name was brought before the Whig convention of 

Ohio on the 22d of February, 1848, for nomination as a candidate for 

40 



COLUMBUS DELANO. 3 

Governor ; and though he had voted in Congress to reinforce the 
army, and to supply the army, the vote against the declaration con- 
tributed to place him in opposition to the war, and he was conse- 
quently defeated by two votes. Eetiring from his profession, he re- 
moved to the city of New York, as principal of the banking firm of 
Delano, Dunlevy & Co., with a branch at Cincinnati, Ohio. After 
four years he withdrew from a successful business, in 1856, returning 
to his home in Ohio, to engage in agriculture. He was a delegate to 
the Chicago Convention of 1860, and supported Mr. Lincoln for the 
nomination. In 1861 he was appointed Commissary-General of 
Ohio, and administered that department with marked success until 
the General Government assumed the subsistence of all volunteers. 
The following year the Eepublican caucus of the Ohio Legislature 
brought his name forward for the United States Senate, and he 
again lacked but two votes of a nomination. 

In 1863 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, serving as 
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representa- 
tives. In 1864 he was a member of the National Republican Con- 
vention at Baltimore, and was Chairman of the Ohio delegation in 
that body. He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress in that 
year, and served as Chairman of the Committee of Claims of the 
House of Representatives. As an evidence of the integrity of his 
character, and the confidence reposed in him by the House, it is suffi- 
cient to state that every bill reported by him was passed into a law. 
He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving as a member of 
the Committee of Foreign Afl'airs. 

Immediately upon the close of his Congressional term, he was 
nominated by President Grant, and unanimously confirmed by tlie 
Senate, as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the most im- 
portant and responsible oflices in the government — more than six 
thousand ofiicers reporting to it — and being subject to its control. 
The new Commissioner proceeded at once to reorganize the bureau, 
and place its working force on a more efficient footing. The good 

results of vigorous administration were soon apparent in much 

41 



4 COLUMBUS DELANO. 

larger revenues to the Government, although under lower rates of 
taxation. Successful efforts were made to secure the aid of honest, 
capable, and faithful local Internal Revenue officers, where!)}' frauds 
were greatly diminished, and the expenses of collecting the revenue 
were much decreased. 

Mr. Delano's administration of the Bureau of Internal Revenue 
was so successful that he was soon promoted to the Secretai-yship of 
the Interior, while the whole country approved the wisdom of the 
appointment. His management of this complicated and difficult 
department was popular and successful. He had the satisfaction, 
in his last annual report, to represent the Indian Office as working 
in the most satisfactory manner; the Patent Office as having made 
important improvements in details of its management; the Land 
Office as having brought up the large arrears of work which had 
embarrassed its operations for years; the Pension Office as having 
materially reduced the claims on file, for the first time since the 
close of the war; the Xinth Census as having been completed in 
a shorter time and in a more satisfactory manner than ever before ; 
and the Bureau of Education as rapidly extending its field of useful- 
ness. 

Mr. Delano has done honor to every position in which he has 
been placed. His private uprightness and official integrity have 
never been questioned. A shrewd and consistent politician, an able 
and far-seeing statesman, he occupies a position as honorable as 
it is conspicuous in the eyes of the American people. 

42 





f1 

t 



WILLIAM W. BELKl^AP, 

SECRETARY OF WAR. 




:>ILLIAM WOETH BELKNAP comes of a military 
family. His father, General William G. Belknap, was 
for many years a distinguished and useful officer of the 
regular Armv. He entered the service in 1813 as 
Third Lieutenant of the Twenty-eightli Regiment of Infantrj', 
and died near Fort Wachita, Texas, November 10, 1851. He 
served with marked' gallantry through the Florida and Mexican 
wars, in which he received frequent brevets. He was an intimate 
friend of Scott, Taylor, and Worth, for the latter of whom he 
named his first son, the subject of this sketch, who was born at 
Newburgh, N. Y., on the twenty-second of September, 1829. 

He graduated from the college of New Jersey at Princeton, in 
the class of 1848. He studied law with H. Caperton, Esq., at 
Georgetown, D. C, and was the partner of the Hon. Ralph P. 
Lowe, afterward Governor of Iowa, and Judge of the Supreme 
Court. He practiced his profession successfully in Keokuk, Iowa, 
where he located in 1851. 

He was elected to serve one term, that of 1857 and 1858, in the 
Iowa Legislature as a Democrat. Being unwilling to give coun- 
tenance to the " Lecompton swindle," he separated from the radi- 
cal wing of his party, and was known as a "Douglas Democrat" 
up to the outbreak of the Rebellion. He then became a Republic- 
an, voting for Mr. Lincoln's re-election, and giving all the support 
in his power towards the election of General Grant. 

He entered the army as Major of the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, 
commanded by Colonel, afterward General, Hugh T. Reed, in Octo- 
ber, 1861, and engaged in his first battle at Shiluh, in the Army 

of the Tennessee. In this engagement he exhibited remarkable 

43 



2 WILLIAM W. BELKNAP. 

ability, assuming command and restoring order and discipline to 
large numbers of troops that had become demoralized. 

He served pn General McPherson's staff as Provost Marshal, 
Seventeenth Arraj' Corps, and in other capacities. He figured in 
the campaigns in Tennessee under Generals Sherman and Grant. 
At the battle of Atlanta on the 22d of July, 1864, where General _ 
McPherson was killed, Colonel Belknap distinguished himself so 
highly as a commander, that he was promoted over the heads of 
his superior oflicers August 31, 1864, to be Brigadier General of 
Volunteers. In that memorable battle he personally distinguished 
himself by dragging the confederate Colonel Lamplcy, of the 
Forty-fifth Alabama, over the rebel breastworks. 

After the capture of Atlanta, he marched with Sherman to 
the sea, taking a prominent part in the actions of that brilliant 
campaign. He was brevetted Major General on the 13th of 
March, and at the date of his muster out in August, 1865, was re- 
garded as one of the most accomplished and promising oificers of 
the Army. 

General Belknap was a lawyer of distinction, and although he 
was offered more prominent and lucrative offices, he chose to 
take the position of Collector of Internal Revenue for the First 
District of Iowa, in order that he might remain at home. In that 
district he wrought manv wholesome reforms. He was servina; in 
this position when he was tendered the appointment of Secretary 
of War in the cabinet of President Grant. In his administra- 
tion of the affairs of the War office he is regarded, both by the 
officers of the army, who experience its practical results, and by the 
country at large, as one of the most successful of the Secretaries 
of War. 

The Secretary is in the very prime of life and health. Pie is nearly 
six feet high, has fair hair and blue eyes, and is a perfect type of 
Saxon Auierican manhood. His mental endowments are no less- 
generous tlum his pliysical. H'e is large-brained, clear-headed, sen- 
sible, judicious, and well-educated — a good lawyer, and an lionest 

man. 

44 



M 





'Jl.OC'^ 




'^ 



GEOEGE M. EOBESOI^, 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. 



P^ EOEGE M. ROBESON was born in New Jersey in 1827, 
and is the son of Judge William Robeson, of Warren 
County in that State. He graduated at Princeton Col- 
lege in 1847, began the study of the law at Newark, in Judge 
Hornblower's office, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was 
very successful in his profession, and soon obtained a wide reputa- 
tion as an able lawyer. Not long after his admission to the bar 
he was appointed Prosecutor of the Pleas, an office which he con- 
tinued to fill until 1867, when he was appointed by Governor 
Ward Attorney-General of New Jersey, to succeed Hon. F. T. 
Frelinghuysen, elected to the United States Senate. 

In 1869 Mr. Robeson was appointed Secretary of the Navy, in 
the Cabinet of President Grant, to succeed Hon. Adolpli E. Borie. 
He entered upon the duties of this important position with an ade- 
quate sense of the importance of the duties devolving upon him as 
the head of a Department whose province was, in the eloquent 
language of his first annual report, " to extend its influence and 
protection over every field into which, allured by trade or science, 
or inspired by religion, an American citizen has been able to 
penetrate." 

At the commencement of the Administration the work of repair- 
ing and renovating the Navy was entered upon and prosecuted 
with great energy, and yet in the nine months ending December 
1, 1869, the expenditures of tlie Department were three millions 
and a half less than during the corresponding period of the 
previous year. In the year ending December 1, 1870, there was a 

decrease in the expenditure of more than one million of dollars 

45 



2 GEORGE M. ROBESON. 

as compared with that of the previous year. The expenditures of 
the Navy Department for the fiscal year ending June 1, 1872, were 
more than two millions of dollars less than the amount appropri- 
ated by Congress for its maintenance during that period. 

Under the immediate direction and supervision of Mr. Robeson, 
as Secretary of the Navy, was fitted up the expedition toward the 
North Pole commanded by Captain Hall. This, though unsuc- 
cessfnl in accomplisliing all that was proposed, made valuable con- 
trilnitions to science, and reflected honor upon the Department 
which organized it, as well as upon the heroic traveler who com- 
manded the expedition. 

The New York iSun having originated and reiterated damaging 
charges against the oificial integrity of Mr. Eobesoii, a Congres- 
sional Committee of Inquiry was constituted, who, after long and 
patient investigation, pronounced the charges " totally' devoid of 
any semblance of truth." They a])proved the administration of 
the Department in every particular, saying in their report : " During 
the period embraced in our investigations the Secretary of the 
Navy has disbursed nearly $60,000,000 in the ordinary administra- 
tion of his Department; and it is a matter of congratulation to the 
country that not only is there no stain or suspicion of dishonor left 
upon this officer, as the result of this investigation, but that the 
searching scrutiny, invited and facilitated by him, into the various 
and extended operations of his Department has discovered as little 
pretense for attack, or need for defense, or explanation even in 
matters of discretion and judgment." 

Mr. Robeson made an able report to Congress on the restoration 
of American ocean commerce, which was pronounced by the 
Philadelphia North. American to be " more comprehensive in its 
character, more practical in its propositions, more exact and dis- 
criminating in its narrative of facts and its statements of influences, 
methods, and plans of operation ; more in keeping with the spirit 
of the age we live in and the high ambition of the Republic, than 
any public document we have had on the subject." 

46 



JOHN A. J. CEESWELL. 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL. 




OHN A. J. CEESWELL was born at Port Deposit, Cecil 
County, Maryland, November 18, 1828. He graduated 
at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848, studied 
law, and was admitted to the bar of Maryland in 1850. 
He was originally a Whig in politics, casting bis first Presidential 
vote for General Scott in 1852. As a result of the Know-Notliing 
furor which practically disbanded the Whig party, Mr. Creswell 
became a Democrat, and was a delegate to the Cincinnati Conven- 
tion which nominated Buchanan in 1856. At the beginning of the 
war of the Rebellion he joined the Republican party. 

In 1861 he was elected a member of the Maryland House of Del- 
egates. In the summer of that year he was made acting Adjutant 
General for the State, and had charge of raising the first Maryland 
regiments which were enlisted in response to the call of President 
Lincoln. He was elected in 1863 a Representative from Maryland 
to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served on the 
Committees on Commerce and Invalid Pensions. 

He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention 
which renominated Mr. Lincoln in 1864. In March, 1865, he was 
chosen a tlnited States Senator for the unexpired term of Hon. 
Thomas H. Hicks, deceased. He served on the Committees on 
Commerce, Agriculture, Mines and Mining, and as Chairman of 
the Committee on the Library. He was a delegate to the Phila- 
delphia Loyalists' Convention of 1866, and to the Border-State 
Convention held in Baltimore in 1867. 

His position as an advanced Republican is clearly defined in his 
speech on the proposed thirteenth amendment to the Constitution 

of the United States, delivered in the House of Repressntatives on 

47 



2 JOHN A. .1. ORES WELL 

the 5th of January, 1865; his eulogy on the life and character of 
his friend aud colleague, Henry Winter Davis, delivered by request 
of the House of Repreresentatives on the 22d of February, 1866 ; 
and his speech before the Border State Convention held in Balti- 
more on the 12th of September, 1867, in favor of Manhood Suffrage. 

Mr. Creswell was appointed Postmaster General at the begin- 
ning of the administration of President Grant, in 1869. This im- 
portant department of the Government has never been more 
efficiently administered than since Mr. Creswell assumed its con- 
trol. Almost every branch of the service has been extended for 
the convenience and accommodation of the people. Receipts have 
been increased, and expenditures relatively diminished. The defi- 
ciency for 1871 was $2,084,933 less than that for 1868. 

Under his administration of the Post-Office Department many 
important reforms and improvements in the postal service have been 
introduced and carried into successful operation, among which may 
be mentioned — 1. A reduction of the cost of Ocean Mail transpor- 
tation, from eight cents to two cents per single letter rate; 2. The 
re-adjustment of the mail pay of railroads on an equitable basis; 
3. An extensive increase of railway post-office lines and postal 
clerks assorting and distributing mail matter in the cars while 
in motion ; i. A large increase of "letter-carriers in cities, and a 
free delivery for every city in the country having a population of 
twenty thousand inhabitants ; 6. A thorough revision of our postal 
arrangements with foreign countries ; 6. The general extension of 
the Money-order system in the United States and to foreign coun- 
tries ; 7. A complete codification of the laws relating to the Post 
Office Department, with a systematic classification of oflfencea 
against the postal laws ; 8. A reform in the system of letting mail 
contracts, which prevents fraudulent bidding, and secures fair com- 
petition among responsible bidders ; 9. The introduction of postal 
cards at a postage of one cent each, as a means of facilitating 
business correspondence, and a step toward a general reduction of 
our domestic letter postage; 10. The absolute repeal of the frank- 
ing privilege. 

48 



GEORGE H. WILLIAMS. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 




'EORGE H. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, 
New York, March 23, 1823. He received an academ- 
JJ- ical education in Onondaga County, and entered upon 
the study of law, in which he made unusual proficiency. Soon 
after his admission to the bar in 1844 he emigrated to Iowa. 
In 1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of 
Iowa. In 1852 he was a Presidential Elector on the Democratic 
ticlvet. In 1853 he received from President Pierce the appoint- 
ment of Chiet-Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and immediately 
made his residence on the Pacific Coast. He was reappointed by 
President Buchanan in 1857, but soon after resigned. He was a 
member of the Convention which formed a Constitution for the 
State of Oregon. 

While Oregon was under the absolute control of the Democratic 
party Mr. Williams became a Republican, and did much to pro- 
mote the success of tliat party in tlie State. In 1864 he was elected 
a United States Senator from Oregon for the term ending in 1871. 
He took a most active part in all the important legislation relating 
to Reconstruction. On the first day of the second session of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress he brought before the Senate a bill "To 
Regulate the Tenure of Civil Offices," which was referred to a com- 
mittee, and subsequently, with modifications, passed over the veto 
of President Johnson. On the 4th of February, 1867, Mr. Will- 
iams introduced a bill " To Provide for the More Efficient Gov- 
ernment of the Insurrectionary States," which was referred to the 
Committee on Reconstruction . As subsequently reported and passed 

it was known as the Militarv Reconstruction Act, one of the most 

49 



2 GEORGE H. WILLIAMS. 

important legislative enactments in the history of the country. Ilo 
served with much ability as a member of the Committee on Finance, 
the Judiciary, and other important committees. No member of the 
Senate, within recent years, has taken a more influential position, 
in a single term of service, than Mr. Williams. 

In 1870 the Republican party sustained a temporary reverse in 
Oregon, leaving it with a minority in the Legislature, and conse- 
quently Mr. "Williams was succeeded in the United States Senate 
by a Democrat, Hon. James K. Kelly. He was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Joint High Commission which convened for the consid- 
eration of the "Alabama Claims" in the spring of 1871. The 
services which he with his associates rendered the country in this 
capacity were invaluable. 

In 1872 Mr. Williams was appointed Attorney-General of the 
United States. A few days after his appointment several gentlemen 
from the Pacific Coast called upon him and tendered their congrat- 
ulations. The Attorney-General replied in an eloquent impromptu 
speech, in the course of which he said ; " I have the honor to be 
the first Cabinet officer taken from the Pacific Coast. California, 
Nevada, Oregon, and the Territories of the Far West may now 
consider themselves represented in every branch of the Government. 
I feel a pride in their growth and development, and I shall not for- 
get in my new office where my home is, or what I have learned of 
their wants and interests, by a residence of twenty-seven years on 
the sunset side of the Mississippi River." 

During the brief period in which Mr. Williams has held the 

Attorney-Generalship he has taken rank among the ablest of the 

jurists who have held that high office. His opinions and decisions 

on the important questions submitted to him command universal 

respect as the wise conclusions of an eminently judicial mind, after 

the most careful and conscientious consideration of the law and the 

evidence. As a speaker he is deliberate, graceful, and impressive. 

He is tall in person, and dignified in his bearing. 

50 




yt''--^>^f^Ti..vpa^-^H^,.^--7-(^^^i 



SIMOl^ OAMEHON. 




'IMON CAMERON was born in Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
vania, March 8th, 1799, and was left an orphan at nine 
^ years of age. He educated himself while pursuing his em- 
ployment as a printer in Harrisburg and in Washington City. He 
edited and published a paper, called the « Pennsylvania Intelhgencer, 
at Doylestown, and subsequently, before he reached the age of twenty- 
two, he was editor of a newspaper published at Harrisburg. In 1832 
he established the Middletown Bank. He devoted much attention 
to the railroad interests of Pennsylvania, and became president ot 
two railroad companies. 

Before reaching the age of thirty he was appointed by Governor 
Shultze, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania. In 1845 he was elect- 
ed United States Senator for four years. 

Eetiring from office in 1849, he resumed active business, and de- 
voted himself to internal improvements and financial affairs. In 
1857 he was again elected to the United States Senate for six years 
but resigned in 1861 to become Secretary of War under President 
Lincoln In this position he favored the most vigorous measures for 
prosecuting the war, and insisted on arming the negroes. These 
views bein: at variance with those of the Administration, he re ired 
from the Cabinet, and accepted the appointment ot Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to Russia. On his arrival at St. Petersburg, ^e toimd ^ 
Czar engaged in the noble work of emancipating the serf, a id 1 
first act was to congratulate him for doing that justice which oui 
country could not then be induced to do, predicting at the same time 
that events would force this nation to follow his great example. Du- 
nng his stay at St. Petersburg, the unbroken and -ntmuous news 
of federal disasters strengthened his fear that the pohcy of the Gov- 

51 



2 SIMON CAMERON. 

ernment foreboded ruin, and deeming it yet possible to impress his 
views on the Administration, and believing that the salvation of the 
country depended on a change of policy, he resigned his office and 
hastened home to take an active part in the mighty struggle. The 
Government would not yet yield to the growing pressure for vigorous 
measures, and he threw himself into the work of recruiting the Fede- 
ral army, and supporting the Union cause in Pennsylvania and the 
loyal States. At last the negroes were accepted for soldiers, and, 
finding that the work of their enlistment was iinpopular, he offered 
his services to Mr. Lincoln to recruit a brigade of negro soldiers 
for the war and lead them. His offer being declined, he continued 
to devote himself to the Union cause, to the utmost of his ability, 
until the end of the war. 

In 1867 he was elected for the third time to the Senate of the 
United States, for the term ending in 1873, and taking his seat in 
that body he was placed on the Committees on Foreign Relations, 
Military Affairs, and Ordnance, and was made Chairman of the 
Committee on Agriculture. He was steadfast in his opposition to 
the policy of President Johnson, and voted for conviction in the 
great Impeachment Trial. In the reorganization of the Senate in 
March, 1871, he was appointed to succeed Mr. Sumner as Chair- 
man of the Committee on Foreign Eolations. In March, 1873, Mr. 
Cameron entered upon his fourth term in the Senate. 

In his speeches before the Senate he expresses his ideas with 
clearness and distinctness. The simplicity and frankness of his dis- 
course are only equaled by the glow of his patriotism. No man in 
the Senate more finely illustrates the advice once given by the Duke 
of Wellington to a young member of Parliament : " Tell just what 
you have to say, and don't quote Latin." He was one of the found- 
ers of the Republican party, and in 1800 was prominently before 
its National Convention as a candidate for nomination to the Pres- 
idency. He is the oldest member of the Senate. Not a single one 
of his contemporaries when he entered that body in 1841 is now in 
public life. 

52 




'/..:•) «.'»nSr»»' 



^Jfl' 



^. 16. 



HON. HANTSIIBAL tIAMUN. 
SENATOR FHOM MATNE. 



ir '^ 1 c^ PuBLiSHCr??; 



HANl^IBAL HAMLIN". 




^ANNIBAL HAMLIN was born in Paris, Maine, August 
27, 1809. He was the youngest of seven children, and 
his father designed to give him a liberal education ; but 
when nearly fitted for college, the health of an older 
brother failing, Hannibal was recalled from school to aid in the 
labors of the farm. He continued upon the farm till eighteen 
years old, when, by the approval and direction of his father, he 
commenced the study of law with an elder brother residing in the 
eastern part of the State. His father, however, dying soon after 
Mr. Hamlin's departure from home, he returned, and during the 
succeeding two years continued to labor upon the farm. 

About the time of his coming of age Mr. Hamlin became asso- 
ciated with Mr. Horatio King in the proprietorship of the Jeffer- 
sonian, a paper printed in his native town. This enterprise, 
however, he soon relinquished, and under the advice of his mother 
resumed the study of law. At the end of three years' study he was 
admitted to the bar, and entered at once on the practice of his pro- 
fession, gaining a case on the very day of his admission. In April 
of the same year he removed to Hampden, near Bangor, where he 
has since resided. Here he at once entered upon a large practice, 
and in addition to his forensic efibrts made frequent addresses at 
lyceums, as well as at political and other assemblies. 

In the five years from 1836 to 1840 inclusive Mr. Hamlin was 
annually elected a Kepresentative in the State Legislature, and 
became at once a prominent member of the House ; was prominent 
in all the principal debates, was one of the recognized leaders of 
his party, and for three out of these five years he was Speaker of 
the House. In 1840 he was the Democratic candidate for Repre- 
sentative in Congress, and was defeated by less than two hundred 
votes. Three years afterward, however, he was pitted against the 

53 



2 HANNIBAL HAMLIN. 

Bame opponent and for the same office, and was elected by a major- 
ity of a thousand. Assuming his seat in the Twenty-eighth Con- 
gress, he at once took the position of an active and able member 
of the House. The measure for annexing Texas by joint resolution 
failed to meet his approval, and he made an eloquent speech against 
it, wherein he expressed his regret that this " great and important 
question had been dragged down, down, down from its own proper 
sphere to a wretched, contemptible one for extending and perpetu- 
ating slavei'y." 

Mr. Hamlin was elected to the succeeding Congress, in which he 
served in the Committee on Naval Affairs, and was Chairman of 
the Committee on Elections. In this Congress, both by speech 
and vote, he assumed a decided stand against the encroachments 
of slavery, announcing most explicitly his opposition to its exten- 
sion, and oifered the Wilmot Proviso as an amendment to the 
famous " Three Million Bill." 

In 1848 Mr. Hamlin was elected to the Senate of the United 
States to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Governor 
Fairfield. Having served the four years of this unexpired term, he 
was re-elected for the full term. He was elected as a Democrat, 
although bitterly opposed by a portion of the party for his previous 
anti-slavery attitude in Congress. His opposition to slavery and 
its extension continued firm and unyielding, utterly regardless of 
party ties or inducements leading in any other direction. " I owe 
it," said he in a speech on the Clayton Compromise, " I owe it to 
the constituents whom I represent, to our posterity, to all the toil- 
ing millions who are seeking an asylum in our land, to embrace 
this opportunity of opposing with unshalcen firmness any attempt 
to introduce or permit this institution to flow into territory now 
free." 

In June, 1856, in connection with a brief speech in the Senate 
on the Democratic Platform, as announced at the Cincinnati Con- 
vention, Mr. Hamlin publicly and formally declared off from that 
party, and expressed his determination to battle vigorously for the 
defeat of its presidential candidate. In the following January, 

54 



HANNIBALHAMLIK 3 

having by a large majority beeu elected Governor of Maine as a 
Republican candidate, be resigned liis seat in the Senate. About 
one week after his inauguration, however, he was for the third 
time chosen a Senator of the United States. He resigned the 
office of Governor in a little more than a month after assuming it. 
and resumed his seat in the Senate. 

The nomination of Mr. Hamlin for the Vice-Presidency of the 
United States was as unexpected to himself as it was honorable ; 
while the unanimity and cordiality with which it was made, 
and its universal popularity, were conclusive evidences of the 
exalted character and eminent national standing of the Senator. 
Having been triumphantly elected on the ticket with the illustrious 
Lincoln, he presided over the Senate as \^ice-President from 1861 
to 1865, acquitting himself in that position with great ability and 
universal approval. When the Republican Convention of 1864 re- 
nominated Mr. Lincoln there was a desire to have a Southern man 
associated with him on the ticket, and Mr. Hamlin was set aside 
for Andrew Johnson, much to the subsequent regret of the party. 

Mr. Hamlin was appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, but 
resigned in the following year on account of his disapproval of the 
policy of President Johnson. He was subsequently re-elected to the 
Senate, and took his seat for the fourth time as a member of that 
body March 4, 1869. Of Mr. Hamlin's general congressional 
career a judicious writer has said : 

It is but stating the truth to say that during his entire congressional service 
Mr. Hamlin has displayed in an eminent degree the qualities of a promjit, intel- 
ligent, and elBcient business man. His executive abilities are of a rare and 
high order. He has made it a first object to meet the demands made upon him 
by his own constituents and State. Every letter of this sort is promptly attend- 
ed to and answered. What a draft this has constantly made upon his time and 
etforts every man who knows anything of the requirements made of a Congress- 
man will be able to appreciate. All parties in Maine have demanded these 
seirices of Mr. Hamlin, and have accorded him the praise of fidelity and effi- 
ciency in devotion to tlieir interests. The heads of the Treasury and of the 
Customs Departments, including such men as Secretary Guthrie, Secretary 
Hodge, and Governor Anderson, have declared Governor Hamlin to be the best 
business man in the Senate. During his entire service as a Senator he lias been 
a member of the very laborious and important Committee on Commerce, and 

55 



4 HANNIBAL HAMLIN. 

was its Chairman for seven years. In this latter capacity he had supervision of 
all the ijri'at questions and measures aftecting the commerce of tlie country, 
both domestic and foreign, acted upon by that Committee— no bill being 
reported which he had not fully understood by personal investigation. 

Tlie later record of Mr. Hamlin's senatorial course seems to indi- 
cate a greater attention to the current and actual business of the 
Senate than any inclination to long and elaborate speeches. Of 
these latter the history of the Forty-first Congress reveals to us but 
few. " I believe," said he on one occasion, " I do not occupy the 
three and a half minutes that I am entitled to out of a day's session 
here ; and if Senators would vote as cheerfully as I will vote, with- 
out talking, we should have passed the Mississippi bill yesterday." 

With the concluding remarks of Mr. Hamlin's brief speech in 
the Senate on the occasion of the death of his colleague, Mr. Fes- 
senden, we close this sketch : 

Mr. President, there are events connected with the Senate which the solemni- 
ties of the occasion seem to impress upon nie with peculiar force, and to which 
I may appropriately refer. I run my eye over the Senate Chamber to-rlay, and 
of all the men which constituted the body upon my entrance into it as a mem- 
ber, but a single one, but a single one now remains with me. That one is my 
honored friend, the Senator from Pennsylvania, who sits nearest to me, (Mr. 
Cameron ;) and it is no slight compensation for the annoyance incident to public 
life to know that intimate and most friendly relations which were then formed 
in all changes and antagonisms of public life have never for one moment been 
disturbed. Could we have been transferred from that time to the present, from 
the Senate as it then was to the Senate as it now is, how startling would be the 
change! We would find ourselves in association with those who would be 
strangers to us. It teaches a moral that all may heed. 

During the period of time referred to the Senate has certainly been graced by 
mimy of the most eminent and distinguished American Senators. Clay, with 
his clarion voice and fervid eloquence ; Calhoun, with his captivating manner 
and subtle metaphysics; Webster, with his words of masterly power; Benton, 
with his comprehensive knowledge of the legislation of the country and an 
indomitable will ; Douglas, with an earnestness and courage to meet and, if 
' possible, to overcome all obstacles in his way; and Collamer, with his plausibil- 
ity to persuade, and his learning and his logic to convince, and Cass and Clay- 
ton, are certainly some of the Senators whose names stand highest upon the roll 
of senatorial fame. Their names, and others that might be designated, will be 
remembered while the Kepublic or its history shall exist; and to this list is 
now to be added the name of Pcssendcn, my late colleague. There it will re- 
main imperishable as one of the great American Senators. 

.56 



OJaj\.ELES SUMKER. 




HE ancestors of Charles Sumner were among the early 
emigrants to 'New England. His father's cousin, Increase 
Sumner, was one of the early governors of the State of 
Massachusetts, and was regarded as a worthy successor of Hancock 
and Adams. The father of Charles Sumner was a successfiU law- 
yer, and for many years held the office of High Sheriff of the Coimty 
of Suffolk. 

Charles Sumner was born in Boston, January 6th, 1811. Having 
received a preparatory training in the Boston Latin School, and the 
Phillips Academy, he became a student in Harvard College, where 
he graduated in 1830. He subsequently entered the Cambridge Law 
School, where he pursued his studies thi-ee years imder the direction 
of Judge Story, with whom he formed an intimate and lasting friend- 
ship. 

In 1836 he was admitted to the bar, and rose rapidly in his pro- 
fession. He was appointed Reporter of the Cii'cuit Court of the 
United States ; and, while holding this office, published three vol- 
umes of decisions, known as " Sumner's Reports." At the same 
time he edited the " American Jurist," a law paper of high reputation. 

During thi-ee winters following his admission to the bar, Mr. Sum- 
ner lectured to the students of the Cambridge Law School. Then, 
as in after Hfe, his favorite subjects were those relating to constitu- 
tional law and the law of nations. In 1836 he was offered a profess- 
orship in the Law School, and in Harvard CoUege, both of which he 
dechned. 

In 1837 he visited Europe, where he I'emained till 1840, travebng 

57 



CHARLES SUM'NER. 



in Italy, Germany, and France, and residing a year in England. 
His time was improved in adding to liis previous literary and legal 
attainments an extensive knowledge of the languages and literature 
of modern Europe. 

After three years spent abroad, Mr. Sumner returned to his native 
city, and resumed the practice of law. In addition to his professional 
duties, he was occupied from 1844 to 1846 in editing and publishing 
an elaborately annotated edition of "Vesey's Eeports," in twenty 
volumes. 

Mr. Sumner was recognized as belonging to the Whig party, yet 
for several years after his return from Europe he took but little part 
in politics. He made his first appearance on the political stage on 
the 4th of July, 1845, when he pronounced an oration before the 
municipal authorities of Boston on " The True Grandeur of Nations." 
This iitterance was made in view of the aspect of aifairs which 
portended war between the United States and Mexico. This oration 
attracted great attention, and was Avidely circulated both in Europe 
and America. Cobden pronounced it "the most noble contribution 
made by any modern writer to the cause of peace." 

At a popular meeting in Fanueil Hall, November 4, 1845, Mr. 
Sumner made an eloquent and able argument in opposition to the 
annexation of Texas, on the ground of slavery. In the following 
year he delivered an addi-ess before the Whig State Convention of 
Massachusetts on " The Anti-Slavery Duties of the Whig Party." 
In this address, Mr. Sumner avowed himself the uncompromising 
enemy of slavery. He announced his purpose to pursue his opposi- 
tion to that great evil, under the Constitution, which he maintained 
was an instrument designed to secure liberty and equal rights. Pro- 
visions in the Constitution conferring privileges on slaveholders were 
compromises with what the framers of that instrument expected 
would prove but a temporary thing. 

In 1846 Mr. Sumner addressed a public letter to Hon. Eobert C. 

Winthi'op, who then represented Boston in Congress, rebuking him 

for his vote in favor of war with Mexico. In this letter the Mexican 

58 



CHARLES SUMNER. 3 

war was cBaracterized as an unjust, dishonorable, and cowardly attack 
on a sister republic, having its origin in a purpose to promote the 
extension of slavery. 

The position of Mr. Sumner was too far in advance of the Wliig 
party to admit of his remaining in fidl fellowship. In 1848 he sun- 
dered his old political ties, and aided in the organization of the Free 
Soil party, whose platform was composed of principles which he had 
distinctively announced in his public addresses. Yan Buren and 
Adams, candidates of the new party, were earnestly supported by 
Mr. Sumner in the Presidential contest of 1848. 

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act tended to obhterate old 
party lines and overshadow former political issues. A vacancy iii 
the United States Senate occurring by the accession of Daniel 
Webster to the cabinet of Mr. Fillmore, the duty of electing his suc- 
cessor devolved upon the Legislature of Massachusetts. By a coali- 
tion of Free-Soilers and Democrats in the Legislature, Mr. Sumner 
was nominated for the otfice, and was elected after an earnest and 
protracted contest. The result was regarded as a signal triumph of 
the anti-slavery party. 

In the Senate of the United States, Mr. Sumner's first important 
speech was against the Fugitive Slave Law. He then announced his 
great political foiTQula, " Freedom is national, and slavery sectional," 
which furnished the clue to his subsequent career. He argued that 
Congress had no power, under the Constitution, to legislate for the 
rendition of fugitive slaves, and that the act was not only in conflict 
with the Constitution, but was cruel and tyrannical. 

The great debate on the Missouri Compromise and the contest in 
Kansas elicited aU of Mr. Sumner's powers of eloquence and argu- 
ment. His great speech, published under the title of " The Crime 
against Kansas," occupied two days in its delivery. Southern Sena- 
tors and Representatives were greatly incensed by this speech, and it 
was determined to meet argument by blows. Two days after the 
delivery of the speech, Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from 

South Carolina, assaulted Mi-. Sumner while writing at his desk in 

59 



4 CHARLES SUMNER. 

the Senate Chamber. Mr. Sumner, unarmed and powerless behind 
Ids desk, was beaten on the head until he fell insensible on the floor. 
A Committee of the House of Representatives reported in favor of 
Brooks's expulsion. The resolution then reported received a little 
less than the two-thirds vote necessary to its adoption. Mr. Brooks, 
however, resigned his seat, pleaded guilty before the court at Wash- 
ington upon an indictment for assault, and was sentenced to a fine of 
three hundred dollars. Having returned to his constituents to re- 
ceive their verdict on his conduct, he was re-elected to Congress by 
a unanimous vote. A few days after resuming his seat in Congress, 
he died suddenly of acute inflammation of the throat. 

On the other hand, Mr. Sumner did not fail to receive the endorse- 
ment of his constituents. In the following January, while still dis- 
abled with his wounds, he was re-elected by an almost unanimous 
vote, in a Legislature consisting of several hundred members. In 
the spring of 1857 he went to Europe, by the advice of his physicians, 
to seek a restoration of his health, and retm-ned in the following 
autumn to resume his seat in the Senate. His health being stiU im- 
paired, he again went abroad in May, 1858, and submitted to a 
course of medical treatment of extraordinary severity. After an 
absence of eighteen months, he returned in the autumn of 1859, with 
health restored, again to enter upon his Senatorial duties. 

It was highly appropriate that the first serious efibrt of Mr. 
Sumner, after his return to the Senate, should be a delineation of 
" The Barbarism of Slaveiy." In an elaborate and eloquent speech, 
which was published imder that title, he denounced slavery in its in- 
fluence on character, society, and civilization. 

In the Presidential contest of i860, which resulted in the election 
of Abraliam Lincoln, Mr. Simmer took an active part, and was grati- 
fied in seeing the signal triumph of principles which he had long 
maintained. On the secession of the rebel States, he earnestly op- 
posed all compromise with slavery as a means of restoring the Union. 
He early proposed and advocated emancipation as the speediest mode 
of bringing the war to a close. 

60 



CHARLES SUMNER. 5 

In March, 1861, he entered upon the responsible position of 
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Eelations. In this posi- 
tion he has rendered great service to the country by his vigilant at- 
tention to our interests as affected by our relations with European 
powers. His influence has always been exerted to promote peace 
and mutual understanding. On the 9th of January, 1862, he de- 
livered an elaborate speech, arguing that the seizure of Mason and 
Slidell, on board the steamer Trent^ was unjustiiiable on the princi 
pies of international law which had always been maintained by the 
United States. 

In March, 1863, Mr. Sumner entered upon his third Senatorial term. 
He advocated with zeal and eloquence all the great Congressional 
measures which promoted the successful prosecution of the war. 
The Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery, which was the 
great act of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was a triumpli of the prin- 
ciples long advocated by Mr. Sumner, and forms a crowning glory of 
his statesmanship. 

On the first day of the Thirty-Ninth Congress Mr. Sumner intro- 
duced a bill looking to the reconsti-uction of the rebel States under a 
Hepublican form of government, and a measure to confer suffi-age 
on the colored people of the District of Columbia. 

He took the high ground that it was the right and duty of Con- 
gress, under the Constitution, to guarantee impartial suffrage in all 
rhe States. lie was bold and eloquent in advocating the securing, 
by Congressional enactment, of equal civil and political rights to all 
men without regard to color. 

He earnestly opposed the reconstruction policy of President Jolm- 
5on, and shuddered to see his disposition to leave the freedraen in 
the hands of their late masters. On the 20th of December, 1865, 
Mr. Sumner denounced the President's " attem])t to wliite wasli the 
unhappy condition of the rebel States, and throw the mantle of 
official oblivion over sickening and heart-rending outrages wliere hu- 
man rights are sacrificed, and rebel barbarism receives a new letter 
of license." 

61 



6 



CHARLES SUMNER. 



From first to last Mr. Sumner was one of the boldest of the op- 
ponents of President Johnson's usurpations. In the great trial of 
Impeachment he voted to convict the President, and sustained his 
verdict in the case by a learned and able opinion concerning the 
law and the evidence. 

With the beginning of the Forty-first Congress, March 4, 1869, 
Mr. Sumner commenced his fourth Senatorial term of six years. 
He opposed the bill for repealing the Civil Tenure Act. In discus- 
sions relating to strengthening the Public Credit, tlie Currency 
Eill, the Franking Privilege, and Keconstruction, he participated, 
with characteristic ability and zeal. 

On the IStli of April, 1869, during the consideration of the 
Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, in Executive Session of the Senate, Mr. 
Sumner delivered a remarkable speech against the ratification of 
the treaty. So important was the argument regarded that the 
Senate removed the injunction of secresy, and it was published 
under the title of " Our Claims on England." The following sen- 
tence from the concluding paragraph contains a reason for much 
of the feeling in this country against England : " At a great epoch 
of history, not less momentous than that of the French Revolution 
or that of the Reformation, when civilization was fighting a last 
battle with slavery, England gave her name, her infiuence, her 
material resources to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into the 
scale with slavery." 

A treaty for the annexation of Dominica to the United States 
having been rejected by the Senate, largely through the opposition 
of Mr. Sumner, a joint resolution passed the House and the Senate 
authorizing the President to appoint Commissioners to visit the 
island for the purpose of ascertaining all prominent facts relating 
to the country and its people. Pending this resolution in the Senate 
a spirited debate ensued, in which Mr. Summer sternly opposed the 
pending resolution. He was excessively severe and ofifensive, mak- 
ing a personal issue with the President — entitling his speech against 
aimexation " Naboth's Vineyard." 

In the I'eorganization of committees at the beginning of the 

62 



CHARLES SUMNER. 7 

Forty-second Congress, Mr. Suinner was removed from the Chair- 
mauship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and proposed as 
Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. He de- 
dined to serve on that committee, stating that after twenty years 
in this service he had a right to expect that his associates would 
not impose upon him a new class of duties when he expressly said 
they were not welcome to him. A leading editorial in the New 
York Tribtme of March 13, 1871, in commenting on Mr. Sumner's 
unwillingness to serve in the post assigned him, said : " His hon- 
orable eminence has been nowise achieved through the Chairman- 
ship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, but wholly through 
that eager, uncompromising, unsleeping devotion to the equal rights 
of men, which the position just assigned him by the Senate must 
afford him the largest opportunities to subserve. If he had asked 
the Senate to relieve him from further service in the Committee on 
Foreign Relations, and assign him to just such duties as have now 
been imposed on him, the wisdom and iitness of his choice would 
have been generally admitted." An efi'ort was made by Mr. Wil- 
son and some others to have Mr. Sumner reinstated at the head of 
the Foreign Affairs Committee at the opening of the next session, 
in December, 1871, but it was unsuccessful, and Mr. Sumner per- 
formed no committee service during the Forty-second Congress. 

On the 9th of March, 1871, Mr. Sumner introduced his Supple- 
mentary Civil Rights Bill, providing that hotels, railroads, schools, 
etc., should exercise no discrimination in the matter of privilege 
and accommodation against colored people. This bill he advo- 
cated with great persistency, designating it as *' the capstone of 
that equality before the law to which all are entitled, without dis- 
tinction of color." 

On the 12th of February, 1872, Mr. Sumner introduced a reso- 
lution to provide for the appointraent of a committee to inquire 
into the sale of ordnance stores to French agents during the war 
between France and Germany. He advocated this proposition in 
several speeches before the Senate, the most remarkable of which 
was delivered February 28, 1872, and published under the title of 

63 



8 CHARLES SUMNER. 

" Reform and Purity in Government — Neutral Duties — Sale of 
Arms to Belligerent France." The resolution was adopted, and 
the committee appointed. Mr. Sumner was summoned before it 
as a witness, but filed a written protest " against the formation and 
constitution of the committee, as contrary to any reasonable re- 
qm'rements of parliamentary law." On a subsequent day, having 
been subpoenaed, he gave his testimony under protest. 

On the 31st of May, 1873, just before the assembling of the Ee- 
pnblican National Convention, Mr. Sumner delivered a powerful 
philippic, which was published under the title, " Republicanism 
w. Grantism — The Presidency a Trust, not a Plaything and Per- 
quisite — Personal Government and Presidential Pretensions — Re- 
form and Purity in Government." Mr. Sumner took sides in the 
Presidential contest which followed with the combined Democrats 
and Liberals. He wrote several public letters in support of Greeley 
and Brown, although his absence in Europe during most of the 
campaign prevented him from taking an active part in politics. 

At the opening of the tliird session of the Forty-second Congress 
Mr. Sumner offered a resolution that the names of battles be re- 
moved from the flags of tlie army. For this he was severely criti- 
cised, and resolutions of censure were passed by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts. 

Among all his official and public labors Mr. Sumner has been 
constant in his devotion to literature. He published in 1850 two 
volumes of " Orations ;" in 1853, a work on " "White Slavery in the 
Barbary States ; and in 1856, a volume of " Speeches and Ad- 
dresses." Some of his recent speeches in the Senate are as exhaust- 
ive in their treatment of their subjects, as elaborate in finish, as 
abundant in facts, and as copious in details, as ordinary volumes. 
Such, for example, is the great speech in the Senate on " The Ces- 
sion of Russian America to the United States," in which tlie sceos- 
raphy, history, and resources of our newly acquired territory are 
set forth more accurately and fully than in any accessible treatise 
on tlie subject. 

64 




•tvGeoElO''" 



ZAOHAEIAH CHAT^DLEE. 




ACHAKIAH CHANDLER is a native of Bedford, N. R., 
and was born Dec. 10, 1813. He received an academical 
education in addition to the usual school training given to 
New England boys. 

As is common with such boys, he worked upon the farm until six- 
teen or seventeen years old. In the course of his youth he taught 
school two or three winters; and in 1833, when twenty-two years of 
age, he emigrated to Michigan, and engaged in mercantile business 
in Detroit. The country was then new, and Detroit was a town 
of but about 4,000 inhabitants. 

Mr. Chandler is one of those fortunate men of the West who have 
grown up witli the country. He commenced, at first, a small retail 
dry-goods store, but was soon enabled by a prosperous trade to en- 
large his business to a wholesale trade, and extended, in course of time, 
his operations to all parts of the surrounding coimtry, so that there 
were few of all the retail dealers in Northern and Western Michigan, 
Northern Ohio and Indiana, and in Western Canada, who were not 
numbered among his customers. 

Mr. Chandler was a Whig in politics, but seems never to have 
sought for political honor, choosing, rather, to set the example of ac- 
cepting office as an incident of the success of his party, than to strive 
for it as a primary object. His first official position was that of Mayor 
of Detroit, to which office he was elected in 1851. Here he served 
acceptably, and the following year was nominated for Governor of 
the State. His strong anti-slavery convictions, however, were brought 

into the canvass, and he preferred to be what he deemed right, than 

65 



2 ZACIIAKIAU CHANDLER. 

to be Governor. In deuounciug the iustitutiou of slavery as the great 
curse of tlie nation, he lost tlie election. The progress of anti-slavery 
sentiment in Michigan was such that in 1856 he was elected to the 
Senate of the United States for six years, and took his seat on the 4th 
of March of that year. 

Dui'ing the important period of his first term in the United States 
Senate, Mr. Chandler was identified with all the leading measures of 
Congress for a general system of internal improvements — for prevent- 
ing a further increase of slave territory, and for the overthrow of the 
powerful domination of the slave power, which had usurped the con- 
trol of the nation. He was one of the few Northern men in the Sen- 
ate at that time who foresaw the tendency of events, and that the 
country was dj'ifting onward to a terrible war. 

Mr. Chandler opposed all the so-called compromise measures of the 
South, as the virtual surrender of the liberties of the people. In all 
the Senatorial contests of that period, he stands on recoi'd as the un- 
flinching defender of liberty, and the fearless advocate of the doc- 
trines of the Declaration of Independence. These great doctrines he 
maintained by speech and vote in the Senate and before the people ; 
and if an appeal to arms should be necessary, he welcomed the ai'- 
bitration of war. 

" The covmtry," writes one of Mr. Chandler's admirers, " does not 
now appreciate how much it owes to his Koman firmness. The people 
have become too much accustomed to regard him as one of the great 
fortresses of their liberties, which no artillery could breach, and 
whose parapet no storming column could ever reach, that they have 
never given themselves a thought as to the disastrous consequences 
which might have followed on many occasions had he spoken or voted 
otherwise than he did. When did he ever pander to position or com- 
plain of being overslaughed by his party? Yet no man ever did 
braver work for a party, and got less consideration than he." 

As the war came on, and seemed for a time to be prosecuted with 
indifferent success, particularly in the East, Mr. Chandler, with a mul- 
titude of other good men, chafed under what he considered the dila- 

66 



ZACHARIAH CHANDLER. 3 

tory and unskillful management of army operations. He was prompt 
to discern and denounce the want of generalship in McClellan. His 
speech on this subject, made in the Senate, July 7, 18G2 — soon after 
the defeat of the army of the Potomac — was bold and incisive. 
" The country," he exclaimed, " is in peril ; and from whom — by whom ? 
And who is responsible ? As I have said, there are two men to-day 
who are responsible for the present position of the army of the Poto- 
mac. The one is the President of the United States, Abraham Lin- 
coln, whom I believe to be a patriot — whom I believe to be honest, 
and honestly earnest to crush out and put down this rebellion ; the 
other is George 15. McClellan, General of the Army of the Potomac, 
of whom I will not express a behef * * Either denounce Abra- 
ham Lincoln, President of the United States, whom I believe to be a 
pure and honest man, or George B. McClellan, who has defeated your 
army. He took it to Fortress Monroe, used it guarding rebel prop- 
erty, sacrificed the half of it in the swamps and marshes before 
Yorktown and the Cliickahominy, and finally brought up the rigiit 
wing with only thirty thousand men, and held it there till it whipped 
the overwhelming forces of the enemy, repulsed tliem three times, 
and then it was ordered to retreat, and after that, the enemy fought 
like demons, as you and I knew they would, a retreating, defeated 
army. Tell me where were the left and center of our army? Tell 
me, where were the forces in front of our left and center ? Sir, twenty 
thousand men from the left and the center to reinforce Porter on the 
morning after his savage and awful fight, would have sent the enemy 
in disgrace and disaster into Richmond." 

Mr. Chandler, as we have seen, had no patience with any half- 
heartedness, or dilatory efforts in the prosecution of the war against 
the rebellion. He was for striking decided and heavy blows in order 
to crush the power of the enemy, and it was under the influence of 
such sentiments tliat he, in his place in the Senate, proposed a spe- 
cial " Committee on the Conduct of tlie War." This Committee was 
at once ordered. Mr. Chandler declined the chairmanship of the 

Committee, but was one of its most energetic members ; and his zeal- 

67 



4 ZACHARI^H CHANDLER. 

(HIS and faitlifiil efforts, in connection with his associates, soon re- 
sulted in tiie removal of M'Clellan from his command. Equally 
active was he throughout the war in promoting its efficacy, looking 
after the interests of the soldiers, and encouraging all measures 
tending to a successful issue of the great struggle. 

Mr. Chandler was re-elected in 1S69 for a third term, which will 
expire in 1875. His later speeches, like those delivered at an 
earlier period in his senatorial career, evince the ardor of his tem- 
jieranient and the strength of his convictions. One of his most 
noteworthy efforts was a masterly speech on the subject of Ameri- 
can Commerce, delivered May 28, 1870, which commanded the 
close attention of the entire Senate. A multitude of deeply inter- 
esting facts were presented by the speaker, and such as were calcu- 
lated to excite serious consideration in the minds of American 
statesmen. Among them was the following personal reminiscence, 
which indicates the bearing of the speech : " Twenty-seven years 
ago I spent a winter abroad, and at that time I saw more ships 
bearing the American than the flag of any other nation in the dif- 
ferent ports which I visited. During the past summer, in a six 
mouths' journey or more, I do not remember having seen but one 
single American flag in European waters." 

Mr. Chandler has been very successful in business, having amassed 
a fortune equaled by that of very few men in public life. At the 
same time he has been remarkably successful in politics, having 
seen longer continuous service in the Senate than any of his con- 
temporaries, save Mr. Sumner. He is unswervingly faithful to his 
party obligations and to his friends. He never abandons a man 
whom he has befriended so long as the man is true to him. Energy 
and perseverance are marked traits in his character. That he has 
reached his present high position is chiefly due to a will which de- 
viates before no obstacles, when once he has settled upon a policy 
to be pursued or a result to be attained. 



68 





NY, 



HENEY B. AKTHOl^Y. 



ENRT B. ANTHONY was born in Coventry, Rhode 
fW Island, April 1, 1815. His ancestors were Quakers, who 
tbnnd in Rhode Island the " soul-liberty " which was de- 
nied their sect in other colonies. "With studious habits and aptness 
to learn, he entered Brown University at an early age, and gradu- 
ated in 1833. He adopted the profession of journalism, and in 
1838 he assumed editorial charge of the " Providence Journal," 
which he retained for many years. He made a successful news- 
paper, which exercised a great influence in molding the politics 
and public opinion of Rhode Island^ and still retains a command- 
ing position. 

Mr. Anthony tirst appeared conspicuously in politics in 1849, 
when he was elected Governor of Rhode Island. He served with 
honor, and was re-elected, but declined to be a candidate for a 
third term. Retiring from official life, he devoted himself, with 
industry, energy, and enlarging influence, to his profession. 

He was elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, as a 
Republican, to succeed Philip Allen, Democrat, and took his seat 
in 1859 for the term ending in 1865. He was subsequently re- 
elected for the term ending in 1871, and was then re-elected for a 
third term, upon which he has recently entered. Such repeated 
indorsement was well deserved. No member of the Senate has 
been more taithful to his duties, or more devoted to the interests 
of his State. 

His watchful care for the honor of Rhode Island was conspicu- 
ously manifested soon after his entrance into the Senate. Jeffer- 
son Davis, of Mississippi, had said in a speech: "Persecution 
reio-ned throughout the colonies, except, perhaps, (and it is a proud 

69 



2 HENRY B. ANTHONY. 

example too,) that of the Catholic colony of Maryland ; but the 
rule was persecution." In reply to this statement Mr. Anthony 
said " that the colony from which sprung the State of Rhode Island 
was the only spot on the face of the whole civilized world where a 
man might avow his belief in any religion or in no religion, and 
suffer no punishment, incur no disability, be called to no question 
therefor." He further asserted that " religious freedom, or ' soul- 
liberty,' was discovered by Roger Williams, just as much as Harvey 
discovered the circulation of the blood or Kepler discovered the 
orbits of the ])lanets." Twelve years later Mr. Anthony elabora- 
ted this idea in an admirable speech, which he delivered in the 
Senate on the occasion of the presentation of the statue of Roger 
Williams by the State of Rhode Island to the Congress of the 
United States. 

The speeches of Mr. Anthonj' in the Senate are marked by strong 
common sense, logical precision of statement, combined with an 
attractive beauty of style. They exhibit a familiarity with affairs 
resulting from long experience in public life, and a practical char- 
acter derived from thorough training in the art of journalism. 
They seldom have the formality and pretension of " orations," but 
are the brief and forcible discussions of practical subjects when 
immediate results in legislation were to be reached. They touch 
upon all the great subjects which have attracted attention during 
twelve years, the most important in American history. 

He has served for many years as Chairman of the Committee on 

Printing, and as a member of the Committees on Claims, Naval 

Affairs, Mines and Mining, and Post-Offices. In March, 1869, he 

was elected President of the Senate pro tempore, a position which 

he held for four years. Frequently called upon to occupy the 

chair, he presided with much ability, displaying rare familiarity 

with parliamentary law. Mr. Anthony is recognized as among 

the ablest and most progressive of Republican Senators. He has 

much influence, consequent upon his ability and his long service. 

There are now in the Senate only four others who have been so 

long members of that Ixidv. 

70 




y^ J^_JC/-yu^^^(^ 



M MORRILL. 

■ lAINE 



LOT M. MORRILL. 




'OT M. MOREILL was born in Belgrade, Maine, May 3, 
_ 1813. In 1834, at the age of twenty-one, be entered 
^^ Waterville College, but soon after left the institution to 
commence the study of law. Five years later he was admitted to 
the bar, and entered upon a lucrative practice. Taking an active 
part in politics, he soon rose to pi'ominence as a leader in the 
Democratic party. In 1854 he was elected a Eepresentative in 
the State Legislature, and in 1856 he was elected to the State 
Senate, of which he was chosen President. 

He had never been an apologist for slavery, thougli acting with 
the Democrats, and when they attempted to force slavery by fraud 
and violence upon the people of Kansas, he denounced the scheme, 
and severed his connection with the party. In 1857 he was nom- 
inated by the Republican party for Governor of the State, and was 
elected by a majority of iifteen thousand votes. He administered 
the State Government to the satisfaction of the people, and was by 
them twice re-elected. In 1861 he was elected to the United 
States Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Han- 
nibal Hamlin, elected Vice-President. 

He took his seat on the 17th of January, and on the 2d of March 
ensuing he made his first speech in the Senate. The occasion was 
an important one, it being tiie great debate on the resolution pro- 
posing an amendment fixing slavery irrevocably in the States 
where it existed. Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Douglas, and others, had 
advocated the proposition with great eloquence. Mr. Morrill en- 
tered the discussion against them, maintaining that the adoption of 
the proposition " would be an entire subversion of the theory of the 
Government, and would incorporate into the Constitution a 

71 



2 LOT M. MORRILL. 

principle entirely foreign." Tiiis speech gave him recognition 
among the leading minds in the Senate, a position whicli he has 
ever since maintained. 

In the£rst session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, convened by 
proclamation of the President, July 4, 1861, Mi\ Morrill was one 
of the stanchest supporters of the Government in its eflbrts to pnt 
down armed rebellion. Speaking in reference to a resolution to 
render legal and valid the doings of the President, he maintained 
that it was unnecessary, since " every measure of the President 
calculated to put down the rebellion, having reference to a state of 
insurrection in the country, is legal and is constitutional, and has 
not transcended the powers which are necessarily logically dedu- 
cible from the powers conferred upon him by the Constitution." 

This extract gives the clue to Mr. Morrill's course during the 
entire war. The Union had no more honest and fearless defender 
in the halls of legislation. After the close of the war he was 
among the foremost Republicans in laboring to secure a reconstruc- 
tion on the basis of freedom and equal rights which would render 
it permanent. He firmly opposed the policy of President John- 
son, and voted for his conviction in the Impeachment Trial. 

Mr. Morrill had been re-elected in 1863 for the term ending 
March 4, 1869. In the election for the ensuing term there was a 
warm contest between the friends of Mr. Morrill and Mr. Hamlin. 
In the Republican caucus the latter was nominated by a majority 
of one vote, and was accordingly elected by the Legislature. But 
Mr. Morrill remained out of the Senate only a short time. On the 
death of William P. Fessenden he was appointed by the Governor 
of Maine, and was subsequently elected by the Legislature, to till 
the vacancy, taking his seat December 6, 1869. He served as 
Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and Member of the 
Committee on the Library. 

The Senate contains no member more Senatorial in appearance, of 
more unquestioned honesty, or more marked ability. Strong in his 
convictions of truth and duty, fearless in his utterances, ready and 
impressive in speech, he is one of our best and ablest statesmen. 

72 




■EyJlj.BSI!J! iSo-^ssl'^'it'"^'-"^ 




).t^^rt7^^zA''i^-^ 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 




P^^IMOTHY O. HOWE is a native of Livermore, Maine, and 
was born on the 24th of February, 1 816. Many generations 
since, his ancestors settled in Massachusetts. His father 
was a physician, living in a strictly rural district, having a wide prac- 
tice among the farming community of fifty years ago. 

After receiving a good common school education, Mr. Howe 
studied law, first with Hon. Samuel P. Benson, of "Winthrop, and 
subsequently with Judge Robinson, of Ellsworth. In 1839 he was 
admitted to the bar, and immediately commenced the practice of his 
profession, at Readfield. In 1841 he married Miss L. A. Haynes. 

In politics, he was an ardent Whig, and a devoted admirer of 
Henry Clay. Taking a warm interest in political questions, he was 
elected by the Whigs of his district as a member of the popular 
branch of the Maine Legislature of 1845. The Hon. William Pitt 
Fessenden was a member of the same body. In the Legislature he 
took an active part in discussions, and was recognized as a young 
man of unusual promise. 

In the latter part of that year he removed from Maine to the 
Territory of Wisconsin, and opened a law office at Green Bay, which, 
at that time, was a small village, separated from the more tiiickly 
settled parts of the Territory by a wide belt of forest, extending for 
forty or fifty miles to the southward. He soon became known, how- 
ever, to the people of the Territory, and upon its admission into the 
Union, in 1848, was nominated by the Whigs for Congress. The 
district being largely Democratic, he was defeated. In 1850 he was 
elected Judge of the Circuit Court. At that time the Circuit Judges 
of the State were also Judges of the Supreme Court, and Judge 
Howe was, during a part of his term. Chief Justice of the State. In 

73 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 



1854, immediately after the passage of the Nebraska bill, the Whigs, 
Free Soilers, and Anti-Nebraska Democrats, of Wisconsin, met in 
mass convention at Madison, the capital, and organized the Republi- 
can party in that State. This occurred two years before the national 
organization of the party. Judge Howe was then on the bench, 
and took no active part in .politics, but published a letter expressing 
his hearty approbation of the movement. The following 3'ear he 
resigned his office as Judge and resumed the practice of the law. 
He bore a leading part in the State canvass of that and the following 
year, as a speaker, in the advocacy of Republican principles and 
the election of the nominees of the Republican party. 

The year 1856 was signalized by one of the most remarkable judi- 
cial trials in the history of jurisprudence. At the general election 
in November, 1855, Hon. Wm. A. Barstow, then the Governor of 
Wisconsin, was the Democratic candidate for re-election. The can- 
didate of the Republican or opposition party was Hon. Coles Bash- 
ford, recently a delegate from the Territory of Arizona in the For- 
tieth Congress. 

The canvassers determined that Mr. Barstow had received the 
greatest number of votes. In pursuance of that detennination a 
certificate of election was issued to him, signed by the Secretary of 
State, and authenticated by the great seal of the State, and on the 
opening of the next political year Mr. Barstow took the oath of 
office, and was re-inaugurated with imposing ceremonies and much 
display of military force. Mr. Bashford averred that, in fact, the 
greater number of legal votes were cast for him, and not for Mr. 
Barstow. He contended that the canvass was fraudulent and false, 
and he resolved to try the validity of Mr. Barstow's title by a suit 
at law. Accordingly he also took the oath of office. On the 15th 
of January the Attorney-General filed, in the Supreme Court of 
the State, an information in the nature oi quo warranto against the 
acting Governor. That is supposed to be the only instance in the 
history of Government, when the people of a State have appealed to 
the judicial authority to dispossess an incumbent of the executive 
office. 

74 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 3 

Some of the best professional talent in the State was employed in the 
f'ondnet of the cause, and in its progress party feeling was stirred to its 
lowest depths. An attempt was made to deter the prosecution by threats 
that the litigation would be protracted so that no judgment could 
be obtained during the Gubernatorial term. It was bi'oadly liinted 
on the argument, and freely asserted by a portion of the press, tiiat, if 
the court should give judgment for the relator, the respondent, hav- 
ing already the command of the militia of the State, would not submit 
to the judgment. For the relator appeared, besides Mr. Howe, Mr. 
E. G. Kyan, Mi-. J. H. Knowlton, and the late Postmaster-General, 
Hon. A. W". Randall, while the defence was managed by Mr. J. E. 
Arnold, Judge Orton and the present Senator Carpenter. 

It was expected that Mr. Rj'an would lead the prosecution. He 
was a Democrat in politics, and so was politically opposed to his 
client ; and, moreover, was a lawyer unsurpassed for ripe learning 
and forensic ability by any member of the profession in the United 
States. But an unfortunate disagreement between him and the court, 
in the commencement of the contest, induced his temporary withdi-aw- 
al from the case, and thereupon the lead was assigned to Mr. Howe. 

A sketch of the progress of the case would hardly fail to interest 
both the professional and the general reader ; but space forbids. The 
prosecution, however, was completely triumphant. In spite of threat- 
ened delays, the court unanimously gave judgment for the relator, 
on the 24th day of March, 1856 — but little more than two months 
from the commencement of proceedings — and in spite of threatened 
resistance, the relator was, on the next day, quietly and peaceably 
installed in the office. 

The reputation won by Judge Howe, in the management of tliat 
great State trial, gave to his name marked prominence as a candidate 
for the U. S. Senate in the place of Hon. Henry Dodge, whose term 
expired on the 4th of March, 1S57. 

When the Legislature assembled, his election was regarded as al 
most certain. But no sooner had the Canvass for Senator fairly 
opened, than a novel question was raised in the party, for an explana- 
tion of which it is necessary to refer to events that had transpired 

75 



4: TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

some years before. In 1854 a fugitive slave from Missouri was 
arrested at Eacine, "Wisconsin, taken to Milwaukee, and there 
thrown into jail for security, while the master was engaged in com- 
plying with the legal forms necessary to enable him to reclaim his 
hnnian property. The fugitive had been treated with great bar- 
barity at the time of his arrest, and popular feeling, inflamed by this 
circumstance, and by detestation of Slavery and the Fugitive Slave 
act, became so turbulent that it resulted in the organization of a mob 
which broke open the jail, released the fugitive, and sent him to Can- 
ada. Some of the prominent actors in this proceeding were arrested 
for violating the provisions of the Fugitive Slave law, but were re- 
leased upon a writ of habeas corpus, partly upon technical grounds, 
and partly on the ground that the Fugitive Slave act was unconsti- 
tutional. Subsequently the case came before the Supreme Court of 
the State, and one of the Judges delivered a very elaborate opinion, 
pronouncing the Fugitive act unconstitutional, and affirming the 
most ultra doctrines of the State Eights school of Southern politi- 
cians, but applying them to the detriment instead of the support of 
slavery. The decision became at once immensely popular with a 
great number of radical anti-slavery men in the State, and was 
thought by them to be an admirable example of capturing the guns 
of an enemy and turning them against huu. This class of Eepubli- 
cans regarded what they termed an anti-State Eights Eepublican as 
a little worse than an out and out pro-slavery Democrat. Accord- 
ingly, when the senatorial election approached, in the winter of 1857, 
the friends of other candidates raised the cry of State Eights, and 
averred that Judge Howe was unsound on that issue. In a caucus 
of the Eepublican members of the Legislature a resolution was 
adopted in substance identical with the flrst of the celebrated Ken- 
tucky resolutions of 1798, declaring the right of each State to be the 
final judge of the constitutionality of laws of the United States, and 
in case of infractions upon what it held to be its rights, that it should 
determine for itself as to the mode and measure of redress. Each 
of the candidates was requested to declare whether or not he ap- 
])roved of the doctrines of the resolution. Judge Howe alone re- 

76 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 5 

fused to endorse them. He preferred to remain a private citizen 
rather than secui'e a seat in the Senate by endorsing doctrines which 
he regarded as unsupported by the Constitution, and in practice fatal 
to the perpetuity of the Union. Tlie result was that he was de- 
feated, and the Hon. James E. Doolittle elected. But his defeat on 
such grounds attached to him, by the strongest ties of per- 
sonal esteem and devotion, a large body of influential mem- 
bers of the party who were in harmony with him on the 
question of State Sovereignty. They agreed with their opponents 
that the Fugitive Slave law was an infamous statute, and they thought 
it unconstitutional ; but they denied that a State court possessed the 
riwht of passing final judgment upon a law of the United States. Upon 
this question a dangerous division continued among the Republicans of 
Wisconsin, until the breaking out of the rebellion. Judge Howe was 
the leader of the Republicans who repudiated the State Sovereignty 
theory. At every Republican State Convention the question arose, and 
the opponents of State Sovereignty, only by dint of the most strenu- 
ous efforts, succeeded in fighting off an endorsement of the principle 
in the Republican platform of the State. On two occasions, once be- 
fore a Republican State Convention, and again in the Assembly Cham- 
ber during the session of the Legislature, Judge Howe met in debate 
the ablest and most brilliant champions of the State Sovereignty the- 
ory, the Hon. Carl Schurz, then a resident of Wisconsin, and Judge 
A. D. Smith, the author of the opinion pronouncing the Fugitive law 
null and void, and achieved a signal victory over them in the argu- 
ment of the question. The next senatorial election in Wisconsin occur 
red in the winter of 1861. In the pretended secession of the Southern 
States, justified upon the ground of the sovereignty of each State, the 
people had a practical illustration of the ultimate consequence of the 
doctrine. It was the vindication of Judge Howe. The quality of 
his Republicanism was no longer questioned, and a Republican Leg- 
islature elected him to the Senate. From that time to the present 
he has borne himself in all the new and perplexing crises, that have 
occurred in our political history in such a manner as to secure 
the approbation of his constituents. 

77 



6 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

At the expiration of his term in 1867 Mr. Howe was re-elected, 
and in 1873 lie entered upon his third term in the Senate. In his 
Senatorial career he had displayed so much ability, so much con- 
sistency and steadfast adherence to principle, that the people of 
Wisconsin, on the occasion of both these re-elections, demanded 
his return with unexampled unanimity. No legislative caucus 
was held to nominate a candidate for Senator, and Mr. Howe re- 
ceived the unanimous vote of the Eepublican members when the 
elections occurred. 

Mr. Howe has done valuable service on many important com- 
mittees. During the war he was a member of the Finance Com- 
mittee. In the Fortieth Congress he was made Chairman of the 
Committee on Claims, one of the most laborious committees of the 
Senate. More recently he became Chairman of the Committee on 
the Library, and a member of the Committees on Foreign Relations 
and Railroads. 

He is one of the most fluent, graceful, and persuasive speakers 
in the Senate. He is an ever-ready and ever-faithfnl defender of 
Republican principles. An illustration is found in the following 
fine climax from a speech in reply to Mr. Timrinan, who had pro- 
nounced the Republican party a failure : 

" I am one of those who still cherish the conviction that Repub- 
lican administration has not been a failure. Nay, more, sir, I am 
even rash enough to stand here and assert that, in my judgment. 
Republicanism has been a success. I think more than that — it has 
been a triumph. I venture to go further than that, and to say to 
any student of political history that he cannot find the story of a 
political party which, in a single decade, has accomplished so much 
for human rights and for human progress as the Republican party 
has during that less than a decade in which it has held the reins 
of Government." 

In similar tone was his reply to Mr. Bayard's charge of injustice 
practiced against the South by Congress, in which Mr. Howe main- 
tained " that this administration of the Government is the first one 

78 






TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 7 

which ever undertook to carry justice to the Southern section of 
the United States." 

Among the numerous propositions that have been made for the 
improvement of the Civil Service, uone is more comprehensive and 
far reaching in its prospective results than one offered by Mr. 
Howe. He proposed in the Senate a plan for the organization of 
a National University, which would prove a powerful agency in 
the elevation of the Civil Service, as well as for the promotion of 
the educational interests of the country. His speech on this occa- 
sion displayed his generous conceptions of what a university should 
be. He said : 

"It should startle the nation to reflect that the destiny of this 
great Republic, the welfare of these millions, is committed to the 
control of free thought. "Whether that thought be sensible or 
senseless, virtuous or vicious, it still sways the national course. 
We do certainly know that if unwise and wicked influences pre- 
vail the Eepublic must surely be wrecked. Yet knowing this, the 
fact remains that the teacher and the preacher, those who are espe- 
cially charged with the care of the minds and souls of men, are the 
men who live the nearest to beggary of all who labor among us. 
When we shall venture to lay the foundation of a National Uni- 
versity let us endow it not meanly but richly, furnish it with the 
instructions of the best intellects of the age, and pay thom as be- 
comes a nation whose temporal salvation depends upon intellect." 

He would appropriate to the support of the University a million 
dollars a year, a sum which seems very large, yet would be but at 
the rate of two and a half cents per capita of our population, or 
but a cent on every three hundred dollars of our national wealth. 
An additional tax on whisky of two cents on a gallon would yield 
the whole amount. " And," the Senator humorously remarked, 
"a man who drinks whisky never complains of any thing that 
enters into its cost." He pi'oposed that the University be made 
directly beneficial to that important corps of subordinate officials 
who are employed in Washington. His plan was to fill the three 
thousand clerkships in the Departments with graduates from our 

79 



8 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

colleges, who would thus be able to complete their studies and sup- 
port themselves by service to the Government. "With such a num- 
ber of scholarships offered, there would be afforded to ambitious 
and worthy young men of moderate means, all over the country, 
an opportunity to obtain a liberal education, while in them the 
Government would obtain a class of clerks far superior to those 
now emploj'cd. A proposition so novel and judicious, evinces a 
statesmanship which reaches beyond partisan exigencies, looking 
to results of enduring benefit to the country. 

As a speaker Mr. Howe is deliberate and impressive, with a 
ready command of language, and all the resources of extemporary 
oratory. He appears, indeed, to the best advantage in the sudden 
exigencies of debate, the excitement of the occasion stimulating 
his faculties and rousing them to the fullest action. In private 
life he is social and genial, attaching men to him by his cordiality 
and frankness, and winning their respect by his purity of character 

and genuine worth. 

80 



\ 



JO^SN SHERMAN. 



'^W'N 1634, three Shermans — two brothers and a cousin — emigra- 
ted from Essex, Enghind, to the infant colony of Massachu- 
setts Bay. One of them settled in Connecticut, wliere his 
family remained and prospered for many years. A great-grandson 
of the emigrant, who had become a Judge of one of the Connecticut 
Courts, dying in 1815, his son, Charles Kobert Sherman, himself a 
thoroughly educated lawyer, removed to Ohio, where he soon acquired 
an extensive practice, and in 1823 became one of the Judges of the 
Supreme Court. He married young, and had a family of eleven 
children. In 1829, he died suddenly of cholera, leaving his family 
in destitute circumstances. One of his sons was William Tecumseh 
Sherman, now General of the Army. The eighth child of the family 
was John Sherman, who was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1823. 
lie went steadily to school at Mount Vernon, Ohio, until he was 
fourteen years old. He was then sent to the Muskingum Improve- 
ment, to earn his own support, and to learn the business of a civil 
engineer, and was placed under the care of Colonel Samuel E. 
Curtis, the resident engineer of the work. He was thus employed 
for two years, in which he acquired the best part of his early educa- 
tion, in learning the methods and forms of business, and acquiring 
habits of industry and self-reliance. The election of 1838, which 
brought the Democratic party into power, was followed by the re- 
moval of Colonel Curtis from his position, and the consequent loss 
of employment by John Sherman. 

His engineering apprenticeshi]3 closing thus abruptly, he com- 
menced the study of law with his brother, Charles T. Sherman, now 
United States District Judge in Ohio, who was then engaged as a 
lawyer, in Mansfield, Ohio. The day after he was twenty-one years 

81 



2 JOHN SHERMAN. 

ulcl, he obtained a license to practice law, and immediately entered 
into a partnership with his brother, which lasted for eleven years. 
Entering at once upon an extensive practice, he soon obtained a wide 
reputation as a laborious, honest, and successful lawyer. 

In politics, John Sherman took a profound interest, although, as 
an ardent Whig, in a strongly Democratic district, he had no hope 
of obtaining office. He was sent as a delegate to the Whig National 
Conventions of 1848 and 1852, and in the latter year was cliosen a 
Presidential Elector. 

When the Nebraska issue arose in 1854, he felt the necessity of 
combining all the elements of opposition against the further exten- 
sion of Slavery, and earnestly labored to build up the political organ- 
ization wliich soon developed into the Republican party. He ac- 
cepted a nomination tor Representative in Congress, from the Thir- 
teenth Ohio District, and, to his surprise, was elected. He entered 
the House of Representatives of the Thirty-fourth Congress, fully 
equipped for useful and successful public service. Fluent in debate, 
patient of details, laborious in investigation, conciliatory in temper, 
and persistent in purpose, he entered at once upon a successful con- 
gressional career. 

In the first session of the Tiiirty-fourth Congress, he served upon 
tlie Kansas Investigating Committee, and prepared the famous re- 
port which the Committee presented to the House of Representatives 
and to the country. This brought him at once into honorable prom- 
inence before the people. At the close of the session the Repub- 
lican members of the House, through the influence of Mr. Siierman, 
adopted the amendment to the Army Bill, denying the validity of 
the slavery-extending laws of Congress. Had the Republican party 
stood upon that declaration as a platform, tliey would probably have 
carried the presidential election of 1856. Mr. Sherman wrote an ad- 
dress to the people of the United States, elaborating the principle 
contained in that declaration. Although it was agreed upon by the 
Republican members of the House, Mr. Seward and other Senators 
dissented, and tlie doctrine was not promulgated. 

In the Thirty-fifth Congress, Mr. Sherman took an active part in 

82 



JOHN SHEUMAN. 



3 



the heated contest over the Lecoinptou Constitution and tlie En- 
glish Bill, and made many powerful speeches. He served as Chair- 
man of the Naval Investigating Committee which made a most dam- 
aging exposure of the complicity of Buchanan and Toucey with the 
crimes of tlie slavery propagandists. He made an important speech 
U[)on the public expenditure, which was widely circulated as a cam- 
paign document. 

At the opening of the Thirty-sixth Congress occurred the memor- 
able contest for the Speakership, in which Mr. Sherman was the can- 
didate of the Republicans. He had signed a recommendation of 
Helper's " Impending Crisis," and this was made the pretext by the 
Southern members for a violent opposition to his election. Thrcjugh 
a long series of ballotings he lacked but one or two votes of an elec- 
tion. In order to secure an organization, his name was finally with- 
drawn, and Mr. Pennington was elected. Mr. Sherman was at once 
honored with the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ways and 
Means, by virtue of which he became leader of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. He distinguished himself as chairman of this committee 
by putting through the House the Morrill Tariff, a measure greatly 
promotive of material prosperity to the country. 

In an important speech, delivered in reply to Pendleton, February, 
1861, he displayed a statesmanlike perception of the result of the 
conflict to which the South was rushing with such arrogant confi- 
dence, predicting that slavery would be destroyed, and that the North 
would triumph. 

Mr. Sherman was elected as a Representative to the Thirty-seventh 
Congress, but on the resignation of Mr. Chase, as a United States 
Senator, he was elected by the Legislature to a seat in the Senate. 
He was placed upon the most important committee of the Senate, 
that of Finance. He introduced the National Bank Bill, and had 
charge of that important measure, as well as of the Legal Tender 
Acts, on the floor and in the debates. 

His labors were chiefly confined to finance and taxation — to pro- 
viding money and maintaining credit to carry on the war. In Jan- 
uary, 1863, he delivered a speech against the continuance of the 

83 



4 JOHN SHERMAN. 

State Banking system, and one in favor of the National Banks, both 
of which were of decisive influence. 

In the Thirty-ninth Congress he introduced a bill to fund the 
public indebtedness, which, if passed, would have resulted in the 
saving of $20,000,000 of interest per annum, the wider dissemina- 
tion of the loan among the masses, and the removal of the debt from 
its present injurious competition witli railroad, mercantile, manu- 
tacturing, and all the other vital interests of the country. Unfor- 
tunately for the public interests, the bill was mutilated in the 
Senate and defeated in the House. 

In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress Mr. Sherman 
proposed the substitute for the Reconstruction bill, which finally 
became a law. In the Fortieth Congress he was Chairman of the 
Senate Finance Committee, and in this important position ex- 
erted a marked effect upon Congressional legislation. In the second 
session he reported a new bill for funding the national debt, and con- 
verting the notes of the United States. He advocated this bill as a 
measure of just and wise public policy in a speech of remarkable 
ability. 

The most conspicuous labors of Mr. Sherman in the Forty-first 
Congress were those by which he secured the passage of the Cur- 
rency Bill and the Funding Bill. The latter bill was under con- 
sideration at intervals from the 11th of January, 1870, when it was 
introduced by Mr. Sherman, until its passage July 13, two days 
before the close of the session. 

On the 10th of January, 1872, Mr. Sherman was re-elected, and 
took his seat for his third Senatorial term on the 4th of March, 1873. 

In person he is tall and spare, with a large head, and counte- 
nance expressive of decision, firmness, and self-control. He speaks 
smoothly and rapidly, making no effort at display, aiming only to 
produce conviction by clear statement of facts and arguments. 



84 




^flfi •^•.-,, 




H N. /vLEXA-: "^.msey: 



ALEXANDEE EAMSET. 



^ LEXANDER RAMSEY, was born near Harrishurg, 
Pennsylvania, September 8, 1815. His paternal an- 
'^^^^ cestry were Scotch, as the name indicates, having de- . 
scended from two emigrations — one to the North of Ireland, and 
thence to the United States, constituting the well-known Scotch- 
Irish population of this country. The family of his mother was of 
German descent. 

Left an orphan at ten years of age, by the death of his father, young 
Ramsey was assisted by an uncle in his efforts to obtain an education 
and engage in business. He was a clerk in the store of this uncle at 
Harrisburg. About the year 1828, he was for a short time employed 
in the office of the register of deeds of Dauphin County. He after- 
ward qualified himself to pursue the business of house- carpenter , but 
at length, impelled by a love of reading, he determined to study law. 
With this view, he became a student of Lafayette College, at Easton, 
Pennsylvania, whence he passed, in 1837, to the office of Hamilton 
Alrich, Esq., of Harrisburg. He also prosecuted his studies at Car- 
lisle in the law-school of Hon. John Reed, and was admitted to prac- 
tice in 1839. During this period he often engaged in teaching. 

The following year was the celebrated Harrison campaign ; and 
Mr. Ramsey was so prominent in the organization of Whig clubs, 
that he was chosen Secretary of the Electoral College, which cast the 
votes of Pennsylvania for Harrison and Tyler. In 1841, he was 
elected chief clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. 
In 1848, he was nominated for Congress, and elected representative for 
the district composed of the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, and 
Schuylkill, and served in the Twenty-eighth Congress, (1843-4.) 
Having been reelected in 1844, was a member of the Twenty-ninth 

Congress, which terminated March 4th, 1847. During these four 

85 



2 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

years Mr. Ramsey developed those qualities of sagacity and firmness 
wbich have been conspicuous during his whole career ; and no mem- 
ber of the Pennsylvania delegation commanded more respect. His 
reputation extended to all parts of the State ; and his political friends 
intrusted to his management, as Chairman of the Whig State Com- 
mittee, the gubernatorial campaign of 1848, which also involved the 
election of General Taylor to the Presidency. 

Immediately after the inauguration of President Taylor, it devolved 
upon him to select the officers of the new Territory of Minnesota 
The position of governor was tendered to Mr. Ramsey, whose choice of 
a future residence on the Upper Mississippi was confirmed by a visit 
some years previously to Texas and other south-western territories. 
The date of his commission as governor was April 2, 1849 ; and in 
May he arrived, with his family, at St. Paul, where he has since 
resided. 

Mrs. Ramsey — nee Anna Earle Jenks — is also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, the daughter of Hon. Michael H. Jenks, of Berks county, 
who served in Congress as a colleague of Mr. Ramsey, 

When Governor Ramsey assumed his duties as the executive offi- 
cer of the Territory of Minnesota, he ascertained, by a census, that 
the population, other than Indians, was only 4,680, mostly in the vi- 
cinity of Fort Snelling, and in the settlements of lumberers on the 
St. Croix River. The Indians, recently increased by a removal to a 
reservation in the Territory of the Winnebago tribe, numbered about 
35,000 ; and the entire region west of the Mississippi River was in 
their possession, except the military reservation inclosing Fort Snell- 
ing, The western limit of the Territory was the Missouri River ; and 
the entire area was fully 166,000 square miles. 

The territorial government was organized June 1, 1849. On the 

11th of June, an executive proclamation established three judicial 

districts, and provided for the first election of a territorial legislature. 

This body assembled in the dining-hall of the Central Hotel, in St. 

Paul, on the 3d of September. In the first message of the governor, 

he strongly advised against a public debt, and invoked the action of 

86 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

Congress to extend the preemption laws to unsurveyed lands, and to 
limit the sales of the public lands to actual settlers. The National 
Legislature promptly responded to the recommendation in favor of 
preemptors ; and the evil of non-resident ownership has had less ex- 
istence under the land administration in Minnesota than in many 
other Western States. 

Governor Kamsey almost immediately commenced negotiations 
with the Indian tribes for the cession of their possessory rights to the 
public domain. The treaty of Mendota was first effected, by which 
the title of the Sioux half-breeds to a valuable parallelogram of ter- 
ritory near Lake Pepin, conterminous with the lake and extending 
westward about thirty miles, was commuted, and the district opened 
to settlement. During the years 1851-2, a negotiation was made with 
the Dakota nation for the cession of forty million acres west of the 
Mississippi, and which now constitutes Southern Minnesota. The first 
treaty of July 18, 1851, was amended by the Senate of the United 
States, requiring a new assemblage of the bands in 1852. 

In the autumn of 1851, Governor Eamsey negotiated with the 
Chippewas of Northern Minnesota for the cession of thirty miles on 
each side of the Eed River of the North. This important treaty was 
not ratified by the Senate, postponing fully ten years the settlement 
of that region of Minnesota. After the adjournment of the Chippewa 
Council at Pembina, Governor Ramsey embarked on the Red River, 
and visited the Selkirk settlement, seventy miles north of the interna- 
tional fi-ontier, on latitude 49°. His party was received with much 
consideration by Governor Christie, the officer of the Hudson Bay 
Company, then in command at Fort Garry. Few descriptions of this 
remote and unique colony convey a more vivid and correct impression 
than a narrative of this visit, which was afterward published by Go- 
vernor Ramsey, and partly repeated in a recent spe^oh on the Win- 
nipeg insurrection, delivered in the Senate of the United States. 

In 1853, with a change of parties in the administration of the Fe- 
deral government, Governor Ramsey was succeeded in the office of 

territorial governor by Willis A. Gorman. In taking leave of the 

87 



* ALEXANDER RAMSEY 

executive office, a prediction was hazarded of the future progress of 
the new community on the sources of the Mississippi which was then 
deemed sanguine, but has been more than realized by events. Go- 
vernor Ramsey's hist message assigned ten years for the accomplish- 
ment of a State organization, which was reached in 1858 ; and twenty 
years, or 1873, for a population of half a million, which has been fully 
realized by the census of 1870. His horoscope of railroad connec- 
tions with Chicago, St. Louis, Lake Superior, and the Red River of 
the North, for which twenty years were allowed, will be witnessed 
before 1873. 

During a period of great party excitement which followed the re- 
tirement of Governor Ramsey, he met some injurious imputations 
upon his conduct of the negotiations with the Sioux Indians, by a 
demand for an investigation by a committee of the United States 
Senate. The result was an emphatic approval of his action — the ver- 
dict of a body politically hostile. 

In 1855, Governor Ramsey served a term as Mayor of St. Paul. 
In 1857, he was the candidate of the Republican Party for governor 
under the State organization. The election was close, the majority 
of H. H. Sibley, the Democratic candidate, who was declared chosen, 
having been exceeded by a vote on the Pembina frontier which was 
well known to be fraudulent. In 1859, on a second trial, he was 
elected governor, over G. L. Becker, by a majority of 3,752, in a to- 
tal vote of 38,918. 

On again assuming the executive office. Governor Ramsey illustrat- 
ed the practical qualities for which he has always been distinguished. 
He found the State deeply discredited ; and he inaugurated a policy 
of rigid retrenchment. He proposed and effected a reduction of 
salaries and a diminution of the number of members of the Legis- 
lature. 

The laws for the imposition and collection of taxes were thoroughly 
revised; but, while husbanding the revenue, he opposed all sacrifices 
of the lands donated by the general government. He especially re- 
sisted the demand for the sale of the school lands at low rates, and 

88 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. O 

the distribution of their proceeds among the counties. He advocated, 
in a message of great force, that a minimum price of $8 per acre 
should be fixed, with a rate of $1.25 for swamp lands, reserving the 
proceeds of the latter for charitable institutions. These suggestions, 
with some modifications, were adopted. The fund accumulated 
under this legislation, in 1870, is $2,371,199, the proceeds of only 
363,000 acres, or about one eighth of the lands appropriated for the 
encouragement of education. 

At the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, Governor Ramsey was 
in Washington; and immediately after the attack upon Fort Sumter, 
even in advance of President Lincoln's proclamation, he called on the 
Secretary of War, and tendered 1,000 men from Minnesota. The 
tender was accepted by Mr. Cameron, and became the initiative of an 
enrollment of 25,000 men of all arms— the contingent of Minnesota 
for the national defense. During the active scenes of the first year 
of the war, Governor Eamsey was reelected governor by a majority 
of 5,826 in a poll of 26,722 votes. 

An Indian war, unparalleled for atrocity, broke out in August, 
1862, upon the western frontiers of Minnesota. The Sioux bands, ob- 
serving the great exertions of the whites for the suppression of the 
rebellion, were prepared to believe that their great fatlier at Washing- 
ton was powerless to repress hostilities ; and an unfortunate delay in 
the payment of annuities increased the excitement. A fatal affray, 
which at any other time would have passed with the punishment of 
the parties implicated, became the signal of wide-spread massacre. At 
least five hundred settlers, of all ages, lost their lives. Thousands 
abandoned their homes; and the panic extended to the Mississippi 
towns. Governor Ramsey was indefatigable in his exertions to re- 
store confidence and defend the frontier. Troops were dispatched 
under H. H. Sibley. The Indians were severely chastised ; a large 
number were captured, of whom thirty were executed at Mankato ; 
and the Sioux nation was forcibly expelled from the territory of the 
State. During the progress of these events, an extra session of the 
Legislature became necessary. The message of Governor Ramsey 

89 



6 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

on that occasion is a graphic narrative of this striking passage of bor- 
der history. 

In January, 1863, Governor Eamsey was elected Senator of the 
United States, in place of Henry M. Eice, and was chosen for a second 
term in i869. 

As Cliairman of the Senate Committee on Post-Offices and Post- 
Roads, Senator Ramsey has devoted himself to the extension and re- 
form of that important branch of the public service. A series of trea- 
ties has been consummated with his efficient cooperation, by which 
the postal rates to England and Germany have been greatly reduced , 
ana, in 1869, Mr. Ramsey visited Paris to urge a similar arrangement. 
The terms which he then indicated, as the representative of Post- 
master-General Creswell — although not immediately accepted — ^have 
since been proposed by the French government, but were met by a 
counter-proposition for a still more material reduction of postage. 
These negotiations are likely to result in a common rate to all parts 
of Europe not largely in excess of our inland postage. 

The abolition of the franking privilege has been proposed and 
supported by Senator Ramsey. A bill to that effect passed the House 
of Representatives at the session of 1869-70, and led to an elaborate 
discussion in the Senate, but failed by a few votes to become a law. 
The burden of the argument against all exemptions in the payment 
of postage mostly devolved on the Chairman of the Post-Office Com- 
mittee ; and his array of facts against the continuance of the franking 
privilege attracted the attention of the country. 

In answer to the allegation that the movement for the abolition 
of the Franking Privilege was mainly the work of the present 
Postmaster-General, Mr. Ramsey insisted that this was a great mis- 
take, and proceeded to illustrate, by numerous and ample refer- 
ences, that for the past half-century Postmasters-General of the 
United States have continually pressed the matter upon Congress ; 
and as to the present Postmaster-General, Mr. Ramsey asserted 
that, receiving letters from all parts of the country asking the abo- 
lition of the privilege, and asking the Department to indicate how 

90 



ALEXANDER KAMSEY. T 

the matter could be most effectually brought to the attention of 
Congress, he had given them a brief form, and this was all that 
had been done by the Department. 

In the progress of the discussion touching this subject, and 
responding to Mr. Sumner, who desired the reduction of postage 
to one cent per half ounce, Mr. Ramsey insisted that the United 
States rate of postage was extremely low — the least charge for 
postal service of any nation under the sun. English postage, he 
remarked, was nominally lower — about two cents of our coin ; but 
considering the limited extent of country, compared with ours, over 
which her mails were carried, her postage was really higher than 
ours. 

The efforts of Mr. Ramsay were ultimately crowned with success 
by the passage of an act abolishing the franking privilege, which 
took effect July 1, 1873. The bill originated in the House of 
Representatives, and but for the strenuous exertions of the Chair- 
man of the Post-Office Committee of the Senate it would not have 
passed that body. 

As a member of the Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads, Mr. 
Ramsey has contributed materially to the legislation facilitating the 
construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and is understood to 
advocate efiicient encouragement to the enterprise of a Southern 
Transcontinental road. lie has always favored three trunk lines 
between the Mississippi and the Pacific States as necessary and just. 
Observing also the beneficent influence of railroads in Minnesota 
and other States, he has supported the donation in aid of railways of 
alternate sections of public lands to give value to the domain still 
held by government, and to relieve the settlers of excessive burdens 
of transportation. 

Reference has been made to a visit by Governor Ramsey to the 
Selkirk Settlement, in 1851, and to his favorable impressions of that 
singular and interesting community. As governor and senator, he 
has never omitted efforts to establish commercial and postal relations 
between the contiguous districts; and, in anticipation of the with- 
drawal of the jurisdiction of the Hudson Bay Company, he pre- 



g ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

sented to the Senate, in 1868, the outlines of a treaty between the 
United States, England, and Canada, by which, with the cession 
of the north-west territory and British Columbia to the United 
States, Canada might make certain of a liberal arrangement for 
reciprocal trade, and all claims against Great Britain originating 
during the late civil war might cease to be a topic of diplomatic 
discussion. These views were repeated in 1870, in connection 
with the resistance of the Red River people to a plan of irresponsible 
government under a Canadian official ; and though their consum- 
mation is for the present postponed, yet their influence upon the com- 
ing question of a political union between the United States and Ca- 
nada is very apparent. 

This hasty summary will sufficiently indicate the prominent posi- 
tion of Senator Ramsey. Few of his colleagues have exhibited more 
tact in establishing and sustaining personal influence. His elaborate 
speeches are terse and pointed, seldom exceeding thirty minutes in 
delivery ; while his self-possession and force of statement in the con- 
veisational discussions of the Senate are most effective. He has 
proved himself a vigilant guardian of the interests of Minnesota. Of 
a frank, hearty bearing, his figure, countenance, and voice concur t"o 
make him a favorite with his associates and with all observers. 

92 





HON V. 

SliNATOH rh'jM Ki: 



WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 




'^%ILLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode 



Island, September 11, 1830. His ancestor, Jonathan 
Sprague, first noticed in Rhode Island history in 1681, 
was for many years a member of the General Assembly. By 
intermarriage the family is connected with Roger Williams, the 
founder of the State. William Sprague, grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, early engaged in cotton manufacture, and par- 
ticularly in the business of calico printing. He associated in busi- 
ness with himself his sons, Amasa and William. The elder Sprague 
dying in 1836, the entire business fell into the hands of his two 
sons, who carried it forward on a constantly enlarging plan under 
the name of A. & W. Sprague. The junior member of the firm 
entered political life, and was successively a member of the General 
Assembly of Rhode Island, Representative in Congress, Governor 
of the State, and United States Senator. He relinquished the 
latter oflice on the death of his brother in 1843, who left two sons, 
Amasa and William, the subject of this sketch. The surviving 
partner, abandoning politics, now devoted his whole time to busi- 
ness, enlarging and extending his works until 1856, when he died 
at the age of fifty-six, leaving one son, Byron. 

On the death of the first Governor Sprague it was supposed that, 
owing to the youth of his nephews and son, the great scheme he 
had projected for erecting another cotton mill which should sur- 
pass any in the State would be abandoned. The friends of the 
young men strongly urged this step under the impression that their 
eight large cotton mills and extensive print works would be as 
much as they could profitably manage. The young men thought 

diffei-ently, and under the same firm name determined to carry out 

93 



2 WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 

all the gigantic plans which had been devised. They erected the 
great cotton mill at Baltic, which is built of stone, one thousaiid 
feet in length and five stories high, containing eighty thousand 
spindles. The erection of this immense structure, and one hun- 
dred dwelling houses for operatives, involved an expenditure of five 
hundred thousand dollars. 

The subject of this sketch had attended the common school 
until he was thirteen years old, when he was sent to the Irving 
Institute at Tarrytown, New York, where he remained two years. 
He was then placed by his uncle in the "factory store" in Cran- 
ston, where goods of all kinds are furnished to the operatives. 
Here he remained one year, when he was transferred to the count- 
ing-room of the company in Providence, where he opened the 
office, made the fires, cleaned the lamps, and swept out the ofiice, 
doing such drudgery in so satisfactory a manner that after three 
years he was promoted to the place of bookkeeper. He occupied 
this position three years, during which, by constant attention, he 
made himself familiar with all the ramifications of the extensive 
business, so that when he reached the age of twenty-two years he 
relinquished the books, and became an active partner in the con- 
cern. Here his active mind was constantly exercised. There was 
no portion of the business that did not come under his eye, and 
with which from actual experience he was not acquainted. Four 
years later his uncle died, when he was compelled to assume the 
whole weight of the business, which has gone on constantly aug- 
menting until it is said to be the largest establishment of the kind 
in the world. 

Early in life Mr, Sprague manifested strong military tastes. 
When twelve years of age he formed a military company of forty 
boys, of whom he was chosen the captain. In 1848 he joined the 
Marine Artillery Company as a private. He was soon promoted 
to the rank of Lieutenant, and was subsequently elected Captain, 
Lieutenant-Colonel, and finally Colonel. He took a deep interest 
in this organization, which he soon succeeded in making a full bat- 
tery of light artillery. 



WILLIAM SPRA6UE. 3 

The cares of business having greatly impaired his health, in 
1859 Mr. Sprague visited Europe. He visited all the battle-tields 
of the recent Italian war, as well as those memorable in the cam- 
paigns of the first Napoleon. While in Italy he became ac- 
quainted with Garibaldi, and contributed liberally toward the fund 
then being raised for that distinguished patriot. 

After an absence of seven months Mr. Sprague returned with 
health restored. The State of Ehode Island was at that time much 
agitated by the contending political parties. The Republicans had 
nominated a candidate for Governor who was offensive to a large 
portion of the party, who determined not to support the nomina- 
tion. They called a convention, which nominated Mr. Sprague, 
and the Democrats also placing his name upon their ticket, he was 
elected. He proved himself in every respect an able executive, 
and in 1861 was re-elected. 

President Lincoln's proclamation, calling for seventy-five thou- 
sand men for the defense of "Washington, reached Providence on 
the 15th of April, 1861, and was immediately promulgated. On 
the 18th of April, three days after the proclamation was published, 
the first battery of light artillery, of six guns and one hundred 
and fifty men, under Colonel Tompkins, completely equipped and 
ofiicered, took their departure for the capital. Two days later 
they were followed by the first battalion of the first regiment of 
infantry, seven hundred strong, under Colonel A. E. Bnrnside, 
with provisions for thirty days. The following week the second 
battalion, under Colonel J. S. Pitman, took its departure. Gov- 
ernor Sprague accompanied the regiment in person. The entire 
force of this regiment and battery numbered nearly fourteen hun- 
dred men. Arriving in Washington, the Rhode Island troops en- 
camped in a beautiful grove near the city, to which they gave the 
name of " Camp Sprague." 

After remaining a few weeks with the regiment, assiduously 

occupied in providing for officers and men, the Governor returned 

to Rhode Island. He determined to form a second regiment, and 

by his zeal and energy induced hundreds to come forward and join 

95 



4 WILLIAM SPKAGUE. 

the ranks. Tlie regiment was soon filled up, and after remaining 
in camp a few weeks to perfect themselves in drill, embarked for 
Washington accompanied by Governor Sprague. 

Governor Sprague remained with the Rhode Island troops most 
of the time, and accompanied them on their march with the army 
to Centerville on the 16th of July, 1861. In the memorable battle 
of Bull Run, which took place on the 21st, the Rhode Island troops 
were among the foremost in the fight, and suffered severely. Their 
gallant Governor was with them in the thickest of the battle, and 
when his horse was shot from under him by a cannon ball, he 
seized a rifle from the grasp of a dead soldier, and, rushing forward, 
took his place in the ranks, encouraging the men by his presence 
and bravery. Two bullet holes found in his clothes after the bat- 
tle showed that he had not shrunk from danger. 

On his return to Rhode Island Governor Sprague did not in the 
least relax his efforts. He determined that his State should furnish 
her full quota of the five hundred thousand men called for by Presi- 
dent Lincoln. The artillery arm of the service having proved so ef- 
fective in the battle of Bull Run, Governor Sprague raised a full regi- 
ment of ten batteries of six rifled guns of one hundred and fifty men 
each. Other regiments were speedily sent forward, and soon Rhode 
Island had furnished far more than her proportion of troops. 

He was offered by President Lincoln a commission as Brigadier- 
General, which he declined. He gave the Government his cordial 
co-operation, both personally and oflScially, until the close of his 
term as Governor. Among all the " loyal Governors " none were 
more zealous supporters of the war or braver defenders of the 
Union than William Sprague. 

Soon after the close of his second gubernatorial term Mr. 
Sprague was elected United States Senator for six years from 
March 4, 1863, and was re-elected for the term ending in 1875. 
He served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, and as 
a member of the Committees on Commerce and Military Affairs. 
In the impeachment trial he voted President Johnson guilty of 
high crimes and misdemeanors as charged in the indictment. 

96 





V/c 




2^!-^^' 



H0N.AWIL1.IAM M. STEWABT. 
SENAIOB FROM NEVADA 



WILLIAM M. STEWART. 




"TILLIAM M. STEWART was bora in "Wayne County, New 
York, August 9th, 1827. When eight years old he re- 
moved with his father to Trumbull County, Ohio. He 
worked on a farm in summer, and attended school in winter, until 
thirteen years old, when he left home with the consent of his parents 
and worked at farming for various persons, at six, eight, and twelve 
dollars a month, until 1844. In the Spring of that year he drove a 
herd of cattle to Pennsylvania, and visited Philadelphia, the first 
large city he had seen. He thought of going to sea, and went on 
board the receiving ship with a view to getting into the Nav}^ 
While on board he saw a boy badly treated, and thinking the situa- 
tion not congenial to him, he started back to Ohio. 

In the summer of 1845, he taught school in Hampden, Ohio, and 
subsequently attended an academy at Farmington. He then re- 
tnrned to his native county in New York, where he taught school, 
and prosecuted his studies, making especial pi'oficiency in Mathemat- 
ics. He entered Yale College in 1848, remaining there until the 
winter of 1850, when he started for California, and arrived there by 
way of the Isthmus in the following April. He worked two years 
at mining with varied success. He ran for Sheriff of Nevada 
County in the Spring of 1851, but there being several ooposing can- 
didates, who made a combination, he was defeated by a lew votes. 
Soon after he commenced the study of law, and in the fall of 1852 
was admitted to the bar, and appointed District-Attorney on the 
same day. The next year he was elected to the same office by the 
Democratic party. In 1854, the Attorney-General of California 
left the State on leave of absence for six months, and Mr. Stewart 
was appointed in his place. He subsequently went to San Francisco 

97 



'2 WILLIAM M. STEWAET. 

and formed a law partnership with ex-Governor Henry S. Foote 
of Mississippi, and Judge Aldricb, which continued about two 
years. In the spring of 1855 he married a daughter of Governor 
Foote and went back to Nevada, wbere he remained practicing 
law until 1857. He then went to Downieville, where there was a 
great deal of litigation growing out of mining disputes. He got 
the lead of the practice, and received large fees. In the spring of 
1860 he went to the Territory of Utah — now Nevada — where he 
was emjjloyed by the first locators of the Comstock Lode to mauage 
tlieir heavy litigations. 

When the Legislature of Nevada was oi'gauized he was in the 
Territorial Council. He took an active part in organizing the 
Union party, and in 1863 he was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention. On the admission of Nevada into the Union he was 
elected to the United States Senate, and was admitted to his seat 
February 1, 1865. He was subsequently re-elected for a second 
term ending in 1875. Upon his entrance into the Senate he was 
appointed to the important Committees on tbe Judiciary, Public 
Lands, Pacific Railroad, and Mines and Mining. Of the last 
named Committee he subsequently served as Chairman. 

He took a prominent part in the important discussions of the 
Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses relating to reconstruction 
measures. On the 24th of May, 1866, he made a speech, of two 
hours' duration, on a pending Constitutional Amendment, in which 
he advocated " pardon for the rebels and the ballot for the blacks." 
He stood in the Fortieth Congress among the firmest opposers of the 
policy of President Johnson, and voted for his conviction in the 
Impeachment Trial. Mr. Stewart drafted, and reported from the 
Judiciary Committee, the Fifteenth Amendment, and had charge 
of it during the entire contest which resulted in its adoption by 
the Senate, thus i-endering a service to the country which connects 
his name with one of the greatest events of American history. 
The bill for the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment, which 
sul)seqnently became a law, was reported by him from the Judi- 
ciary Committee. 

98 




^'y^iySBMii * so^ «F«»<" ^'-'^ 




/vkKi) 




AAEOK H. OEAGIE". 



|;^ AEON H. CRAGIN was bom in Weston, Vermont, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1821. He is of Scotch descent, one of his an- 
cestors being John Cragin, who was among the prisoners 
taken by Cromwell at the great battle of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, 
and banished to America. 

Aaron worked at farming and in a woolen mill until he became of 
age. His education was principally acquired at " Burr Seminary," 
Manchester, Vermont, and at the "Lebanon Liberal Institute," at 
Lebanon, N. H. Having finished his Studies at the academy, he re- 
turned to his native town of Weston, and entered at once upon the 
study of law. He afterwards spent two years in law studies at 
Albany, New York, and was admitted to the bar in New York City, 
in the fall of 1817. The same year he moved to Lebanon, N. H., and 
commenced the practice of his profession. 

In 1848, Mr. Cragin took an active part in the canvass for Gen. 
Taylor, and was an associate editor of the Grcmite State Whig, pub- 
lished at Lebanon. In 1852, he was on the electoral ticket for Scott 
and Graham, and made numerous speeches in behalf of those candi- 
dates. In the years of 1852, 1853, 1851, and 1859, he was a member 
of the New Hampshire legislature. He was elected to the Thirty- 
fourth Congress, a representative from the Third Congressional Dis- 
trict of New Hampshire, by a majority of 3,000 ; although this Dis- 
trict, before that time, had been strongly Democratic. He was 
re-elected in 1857, and served through the Tliirty-fifth Congress. 

Mr. Cragin was a delegate at large from New Hampshire to the 
Republican Convention at Chicago, in 1860, and voted first atid last 

99 



2 AARON H. CRAGIN. 

for Abraham Liucoln, and supported him upon the stump in every 
county in New Hampshire. 

In June, 1864, he was elected to the United States for the full 
term of six years, as the successor of John P. Hale. Upon entering 
the Senate Mr. Cragin was appointed a member of the Committee 
on Territories, of which he became chairman upon the resignation 
of Mr. Grimes. Among the many important measures originated 
or promoted by this committee since Mr. Cragin has been its chair- 
man, may be mentioned a regulation requiring examination for pro- 
motion, and an act making the course at the Naval Academy six 
years instead of four. The efficiency of the service has been in- 
creased by the building of eight additional steam-vessels of war, 
and by the passage of an act by which the pay of all honorably re- 
tired officers was increased to three fonrths of the highest sea-pay, 
and at the same time such officers are not allowed to have active 
employment except in time of war. 

As a member of the Committee on Territories, with which he 
has been connected since his accession to the Senate, Mr. Cragin 
has been prominently identified with all legislation tending to de- 
velop the " Great West." He has been an active opposer of po- 
lygamy in Utah ; and his great speech, delivered in the Senate 
May 18, 1870, was one of the severest blows ever administered to 
" the loathsome and festering monster of polygamous Mormonism." 

Mr. Cragin's speeches in the Senate are not frequent, but are 
invariably characterized by sound logic and just conclusions care- 
fully reached and forcibly expressed. Watchful of the interests of 
his constituents, faithful to his party obligations, and devoted to 
his country, he combines the qualities requisite to a wise and useful 
legislator. 



100 



GEOEGE F. EDMUE"DS. 




EOKGE F. EDMUNDS was bom in Richmond, Ver- 
mont, February 1, 1828. His education was carried 
somewhat beyond the curriculum of the common schools 
by the instructions of a private tutor. Possessing naturally an 
acute intellect and a practical readiness with his mother-tongue, he 
took almost instinctively to the law, which he studied with unusual 
assiduity and success. He was admitted to the bar in 1849, and 
eschewing politics, devoted himself exclusively to his profession, in 
which he had unusual success. In 1851 he settled in Burlington, 
and in 1854, in 1857, in 1858, and in 1859 he was elected to the 
lower branch of the Vermont Legislature, in which he served three 
years as Speaker. In 1861 and 1862 he was elected to the State 
Senate, and was President -pro tern, of that body. 

On the breaking out of the rebellion he was a member of the 
State Convention which met to form a coalition between the Re- 
publicans and "War Democrats, and drew up the resolutions which 
were adopted by the Convention as the basis of union for the 
country. He was appointed to the United States Senate as a Re- 
publican to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Solomon 
Foots, and took his seat April 5, 1866. He was elected by the 
Legislature for the remainder of the term ending March 4, 1869, 
and was re-elected without opposition for the further term of 
six years. 

On the 10th of December, 1866, soon after taking his seat in the 
Senate, Mr. Edmunds, as Chairman of the Committee on Retrench- 
ment, reported a bill to regulate the tenure of civil offices. In bring- 
ing forward the measure, Mr. Edmunds asserted that they were 
" acting in no spirit of hostility to any party or administration 

101 



2 GEORGE F. EDMUNDS. 

whatever, but for the true republican interest of the country under 
all administrations, and under the domination of all parties, in the 
growth before the nation in the future." 

In the session of Congress which convened at the beginning of 
President Grant's administration, it was proposed to repeal the 
Tenure of Office Law. This proposition was earnestly opposed by 
Mr. Edmunds in several speeches of much eloquence and force of 
logic. " I submit to Senators, seriously," said he, " not for this 
President, not for this Vice-President, not for to-day or to-morrow 
or this age, but for that great age which is to come after us, when 
we have a hundred States and a hundred million people, whether 
it is not worthy of some consideration whether this body should lay 
aside fri)m it powers which we all now, excepting the Democrats, 
confess either belong to it by the Constitution, or may and ought 
to be properly conferred upon it by law." 

Mr. Edmunds served on the Committees on Commerce, Public 
Lands, Retrenchment, and Appropriations. During the Forty-first 
Congress he was Chairman of the Committee on Pensions. In the 
re-organization of committees consequent upon the participation of 
several Kepublican Senators in the " Liberal " movement, in the 
third session of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Edmunds was ap- 
pointed to succeed Mr. Trumbull as Chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee. 

He frequently addressed the Senate, especially on subjects re- 
ported from the committees with which he was connected. His 
speeches evince much practical knowledge of affairs, and great fa- 
miliarity with laws and precedents. He is a very fluent speaker, 
with much readiness of repartee and skill in the art of extempo- 
raneous argument. 



102 



^ 





HON POSCOE CQJ^iKL,:' 
SENATOR FROM NEW YOHK. 



EOSOOE COIirEXrNG. 




fjJi^OSCOE CONKLING was born in Albany, New York, 
j(>^"^ October 30, 1829, and is descended from a family long con- 
^^^ nected with state and national politics. His father, Hon. 
Alfred Conkling, was a member of the Seventeenth Congress, and was 
Bubsequently chosen United States District Judge for the New York 
District, tlie duties of which office he discharged with distinguished 
honor and ability. He was afterwards appointed, by President Fill- 
more, minister to Mexico. A brother to Eoscoe — Hon. Frederick 
A. Conkling — was a leading member of the Thirty-seventh Congress, 
on many important committees, and universally respected as a man 
of unswerving honor and patriotism. 

The subject of this sketch commenced his legal studies at the 
early age of fifteen in the law office of L. A. Spencer, Esq., of Utica. 
Evincing an early dislike for " formalities of schools and colleges," he 
seems to have secured but few of the advantages of an elaboi-ate 
education aside from what he had gained under the paternal roof. 

In 1849 the office of district-attorney of Oneida County becoming 
vacant, he was appointed by the Governor of the State to fill the 
vacancy. On receiving this important appointment he had just 
reached his majoritj', and yet it was universally conceded by mem- 
bers of the legal profession that the duties of the office were never 
more skillfully and energetically discharged. 

In 1858 Mr. Conkling was elected Mayor of the city of Utica — 
being the youngest man who has ever filled that office. He was elected 
a Representative from New York to the Thirty-sixth Congress in 
the fiiU of 1858, and was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress. 

103 



2 R08C0EC0NKLING. 

He served as Chairman of the Committee on the District of Colum- 
bia, and also as Cliairman of the Special Committee on the Bankrupt 
Law. In tlie Tliirty-ninth Congress, to which he was also elected, 
he was placed on the Committee of Ways and Means, and on the 
Joint Committee on Reconstruction. 

By a large raajoritj^, Mr. Conklin was elected a Representative 
to the Fortieth Congress ; but before taking his seat he was chosen 
by the Legislature of New York as a United States Senator to 
succeed Hon. Ira Harris. 

After serving six years, on the 4th of March, 18Y3, he entered 
upon his second term in the Senate. He served as a member of 
the Committees on the Judiciary, Commerce, and Foreign Rela- 
tions, and as Chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the 
Laws of the United States. 

He took a prominent part in legislation pertaining to Recon- 
struction, and voted with the majority in favor of the convictioQ 
of President Johnson in the Impeachment Trial. He has been one 
of the firmest adherents of the administration of President Grant ; 
and with great zeal, eloquence, and ability has advocated all the 
important party measures which have been proposed since his con- 
nection with the Senate. 

His speeches, which are frequent, are always able and effective. 
Of one of them — a speech in defense of Caldwell — a writer says: 
" It seemed a bounteous, irresistible outpouring of law and logic, 
argument, illustration, and satire. He is a wizard in words, a necro- 
mancer in logic. His best power, both in statement and reasoning, 
is exquisitely subtle. His aigument is a web, fine as a gossamer, 
but firm as steel. He never allows his brilliant rhetoric to overload 
his theme. Mr. Conkling is a speaker who by his peculiar manner, 
arrogant and defiant, cynical, and at times supercilious, arouses 
your antagonism from the very first, so the final victory he wins 
over your mind, whether by sophistry and casuistry, or by clear 
logic and fair instruction, is the more complete. It is pure brain- 
power, intellectual absolutism. He has, I think, no humor; but 
wit of a certain frosty, biting sort, and a terrible power of sarcasm." 

104 



JUSTIN S. MOERILL. 




^USTIlSr S. MORRILL was born in Strafford, Vermont, 
April 14, 1810. At fifteen years of age he was taken from 
an academy, where he was making rapid proficiency in study, 
and was placed in a country store. From that time he did not enjoy 
another day's schooling, though he has been a hard student all his 
life. After a year's experience as a merchant's clerk in his native 
village, having received for his services only $25, he went to Port- 
land and was employed in an extensive dry goods establishment. 
AH the money that could be saved from his meagre salary was spent 
for books, which were studied with great avidity at such hours as were 
not occupied in his regular labors. By thus improving his time he 
pursued a considerable course of classical studies, and read " Black- 
stone's Commentaries," but with no intention of becoming a lawyer. 
After three years spent in Portland, he returned to his native town, 
and formed a partnership in mercantile business with Judge Harris. 
Mr. Morrill continued in this business until 1848, when he turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits. 

In 1854, he was elected a Representative from Vermont in tlie 
Thirty-fourth Congress, and remained a member of the House by 
re-elections for twelve continuous years. He was a member of the 
Committees on Agriculture, and Ways and Means. Of the latter 
committee, during the Thirty-ninth Congress, he held the important 
position of chairman, thus becoming what is technically styled 
" Leader of the House." 

He introduced a bill granting lands to agricultural colleges, which 
was passed by Congress, but was vetoed by President Buchanan. 
A similar bill, which finally became a law, was ably advocated by 
Mr. Morrill in a speech delivered June 6, 1863. In 1S56, he opposed 

105 



2 JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 

the admission of Kansas on the terms then proposed. Subsequently, 
as a member of a select committee of fifteen appointed to investigate 
matters in relation to Kansas, he prepared and presented a minority 
report against the Lecompton constitution. 

His first speech on the tariflp question was delivered in the House, 
Feb. 6, 1857, against a bill reported by Mr. Campbell of Ohio, the 
main grounds of Mr. Morrill's opposition being that it was too much 
in the interest of manufactures, and adverse to agriculture. The 
" Morrill Tariff" was introduced and explained by him in an elabo- 
rate speech, April 23, 1860. This tarilT, which became a law in 
1861, effected a change from ad valorem to specific duties on a large 
number of articles. Increasing the duties on wool and some other 
agricultural products, it added many articles to the free list. 

February 4, 1862, Mr. Morrill made a speech maintaining the im- 
policy of making paper a legal tender, since this would lead to infla- 
tion, and make great diflBeulty in the return to specie payments. 
He proposed a system of issuing exchequer bills, which, if adopted, 
would have tended to prevent the great depreciation of the currency 
which ultimately occurred. 

March 12, 1862, he made a speech explanatory of the Internal 
Tax Bill, which, as chairman of the sub-committee to whom the sub- 
ject was referred, he had performed the principal labor in preparing. 
By this bill was originated the vast internal revenue system which 
has served so excellent a purpose for the country. A system of 
such varied application, and yet so simple and efficient for subserv- 
ing the necessities of a great nation, was never before devised. The 
present head of the treasury, Mr. Boutwell, after having had the 
experience of executing the law, as Commissioner of Internal Reve- 
nue, said that it was " the most perfect system ever devised by any 
nation." 

In October, 1866, he was elected a Senator in Congress from Ver- 
mont, for the term ending in 1873. In the Senate he has made 
numerous and able speeches on the various subjects relating to the 

national finances and the public debt. 

106 



JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 3 

One of the ablest and most important of his speeches was that of 
May 9, 1870, on tlie Reduction of Taxation ; a masterly effort, 
abounding in important facts and powerful arguments. He started 
out with the assumption, that " owing to the policy of our present 
Administration we should soon be able to part with all direct tax- 
ation, or all internal taxes, and the only subject then that will re- 
main for serious consideration will be the subject of the tariff." 
Thus entering upon the consideration of a subject with which he 
is as familiar as any other American statesman, Mr. Morrill thor- 
oughly explored the ground upon whicli the Republican party 
stood on this question, and showed that there was not " necessarily 
any such antagonism as should on principle now or hereafter divide 
the votes of its members." 

Mr. Morrill opposed the act constituting eight hours a day's work 
for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by or in behalf 
of the United States. Against this measure he urged the objec- 
tions that the Eight Hour law applied only to those in the employ- 
ment of the General Government, is anti-republican, and offensive 
to all other laboring men ; that sucli a law, universally applied, 
would be inconsistent with the highest interests of American work- 
ingmen ; that it would not afford any additional leisure which will 
be made available for mental and moral improvement ; that it is 
untrue that mankind will or can perform as much labor, and of 
equal value, in eight hours as in ten ; that the measure, if adopted 
now by our whole country, would prove an immeasurable 
national disaster; and that there are other means whereby labor 
has been and can be much more efficiently encouraged and 
protected. 

He opposed the repeal and the suspension of the Civil Tenure 
Act, advocating, however, a considerable modification of the law. 
He maintained that the law was enacted, not merely to bear upon 
a single President, but was intended as a part of tlie permanent 
policy of the country, and was in strict accordance with the Con- 
stitution. He favored the abolition of the Franking Privilege, 
dissenting, however, from the opinion that several millions would 

107 



4 JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 

thus be saved to the country. On the contrary, he believed that 
nothing would be saved by the adoption of the measure. 

On tlie 7th of April, 1871, Mr. Morrill delivered a speech of 
great length against the annexation of Santo Domingo to the United 
States. Seldom has there been delivered in the Senate a speech 
more replete with facts, illustrations, and arguments. The follow- 
ing is one of the closing paragraphs : 

" Individuals occupy but a brief space in the march of time, and 
a generation blots them out, perhaps forever ; but nations have a 
continuity lasting for ages, and a character to be transmitted to the 
immortal pages of future history. Tlie past of our country is se- 
cure, and I would not jeopardize the future by the empty mockery 
of an exchange of moral grandeur for apparent or even for real 
material greatness. If I can divine the secrets of my own heart— 
and what I claim for myself I cordially concede to others — there 
is no passion, no sentiment lurking there which does not bow to a 
profound desire that our country should stand foremost among the 
nations of the earth, foremost in free and liberal institutions, fore- 
most in its moral fiber and intellectual reach, foremost in literature, 
arts, and laws, and foremost in all the glories which crown tlie 
most elevated civilization and the most liberal and, I hope I may 
add, stable form of human government. 

Mr. Morrill has done important service as a member of the Com- 
mittee on Finance and the Committee on Education and Labor. 
As Chairman of tlie Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds 
he has done much to promote the interests of the Government, 
and to educate the popular taste. In 1873 he was re-elected for 
a second term, which will end in 1879. With excellent acquire- 
ments, long experience, a pure character, practical talent, and stu- 
dious habits, he gives promise of a further career of enduring honor 
and increasing usefulness. 



108 









?7/^^ 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 




LIVEE P. MOETOTST was born in "Wayne County, Indiana, 



August 4, 1823. His parents dying when he was quite 
young, he was placed under the care of a grandmother and 
two aunts, in the State of Ohio. He served for a while with his 
brother at the hatter's trade ; but this not being a congenial employ- 
ment, at the age of fourteen he entered the Wayne County Seminary. 
He is described by his preceptor as " a timid and rather verdaut- 
looking youth, too shy to bear, with head erect, a master's look." 
After completing his preparatory studies, he entered Miami Univer- 
sity, at Oxfoi'd, Ohio. He displayed much talent as a student, and 
made great proficiency in his studies, and especially in forensic exer- 
cises. Leaving college without graduating, he returned to Indiana, 
and entered upon the study of law with Hon. John S. Newman. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and, as a jurist and an advocate, 
soon took rank among the first lawyers of the State. 

In 1852, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. Two years 
later, the Democratic party, of which he was a member, repealed the 
Missouri Compromise, and passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Mr. 
Morton, with many others who had been known as free-soil Demo- 
crats, abandoned his old party relations, and aided in forming the 
Republican party. 

In 1856, he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Governor of Indiana. He made a thorough and vigorous can- 
vass of the State, in company with his Democratic competitor, Ashbel 
P. Willard. A party so powerful, championed by a leader so elo- 
quent and popular, could not be overcome in a single campaign. 
Mr. Morton lost the election by about five thousand votes ; but his 
speeches, delivered throughout the State, did much to build up and 

consolidate the Republican party in Indiana. 

109 



2 OLIVERP. MURTON. 

Anticipating the importance of the great political struggle of 1860, 
the Republicans of Indiana made an exceedingly strong ticket, with 
Henry S. Lane tor Governor, and Oliver P. Morton for Lieutenant 
Governor — both unsurpassed for eloquence and effectiveness in politi 
cal debate. The Kepublican State ticket was triumphantly elected 
in October, and, in November, Indiana stood in the unbroken col- 
umn of Northern States that elected Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- 
dency. 

On the 14th of January, 1861, Mr. Morton, entering upon the 
office of Lieutenant-Governor, took his seat as President of the State 
Senate. He occupied this position but two days, when, in conse- 
quence of the election of Henry S. Lane to the Senate of the United 
States, he became Governor of Indiana. 

Never before had a Governor of the State been inaugiirated amid 
circumstances so difficult and trying. The election of Mr. Lincoln 
to the presidency was used as a pretext for rebellion, which was 
already showing its formidable front in various portions of the South. 
The State of Indiana was divided on the question of the right of 
secession. Men were heard to say in the State Legislature, that they 
would rather take their muskets and assist the Southern people to 
oljtain their independence, than to support the Government. The 
Southern traitors believed that should the Administration pursue a 
coercive policy, Indiana would secede and join the Southern Con- 
federacy. To repress treason, to foster loyalty, and hold the entire 
State true to the Union, and to hurl its concentrated moral and phy- 
sical force against the rising rebellion, constituted the extraordinary 
work before the newly-inaugurated Governor. 

Convinced of the importance of prompt action in defence of the 
Government, he visited the President in person, and assured him that 
if he would adopt a vigorous policy, Indiana would support him. 
Soon after liis visit to AVashington, the bombardment of Fort 
Sumter inaugurated actual hostilities and produced the great upris- 
ing of the North. 

Upon receiving the President's proclamation. Governor Morton 
issued calls to every part of the State for men. Forty thousand 

110 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 3 

men, more than six times the number required, volunteered for the 
defence of the Union. In three days, six regiments, the quota of 
the State, were in readiness for service, fully armed and equipped. 
Twenty regiments were tendered in addition, and when they were 
not accepted by the Government, most of them were mustered into 
the State service, put in camp and drilled until the time came when 
the Government was glad to take them. 

No sooner were their Urst troops in the field than the Governor sent 
agents to look after their interests, to see that their necessities were 
supplied while in health, and that they were properly cared for when 
sick. 

To meet the extraordinary emergencies of the occasion, Governor 
Morton called an extra session of the Legislature. His message to 
this body, delivered April 25th, 1861, was a patriotic and eloquent 
presentation of the true relations of the States to the Federal Govern- 
ment, and the duty of Indiana to aid in crushing the rebellion. 

During the extra session of the General Assembly the labors of 
the Executive Department were augmented to an extent never 
before equalled in the history of the State. Great discernment and 
discretion were exercised by the Governor in the selection of men to 
aid in reci'uiting, organizing and equipping the regiments. He 
laid aside party prejudices, and, in dispensing favors, rather showed 
partiality to his former political foes tlian to his friends. Loyalty 
and capacity were the only qualifications for position which he de- 
manded, and during the early stages of the war he appeared to look 
for these in the Democratic party. 

The doubtful attitude of the State of Kentucky gave additional 
anxiety and labor to the Governor of Indiana. Governor MagofBn, 
at heart a secessionist, had refused most positively to respond to the 
President's call for volunteers. While making professions of a desire 
to hold Kentucky in a neutral position, he was really rendering the 
rebels all the aid in his power. He artfully laid his plans to induce 
Indiana, Ohio, and other Northern border States, to assume the char- 
acter of sovereign mediators between the Government and the 
seceded States. To his overtures Governor Morton promptly re- 
Ill 



4 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

sponded, " Tliere is no ground in the Constitution, midway between 
the Governmeut and a rebellious State, upon which another State 
can stand, holding both in check. A State must take her stand 
upon one side or the other ; and I invoke the State of Kentucky, by 
all the sacred ties that bind us together, to take her stand with Indi- 
ana, promptly and efficiently, on the side of the Union." 

From this time until the close of Magoffin's administration, Gov- 
ernor Morton was practically the governor of Kentucky. He dis- 
patched numerous secret agents to watch the movements of Ken- 
tucky secessionists. Thus he was constantly advised in reference to 
the traitorous designs of Kentucky rebels and their Confederate 
allies. In view of the defenceless condition of the Indiana and Ohio 
border, he urged upon the President and the War Department the 
importance of gunboats and fortifications along the Ohio river. 

From the beginning of the difficulties in Kentucky he unremit- 
tingly pressed upon the attention of the Government the necessity 
of taking decided steps toward the occupation of the State by the 
United States forces. 

On the 16th of September, 1861, Governor Morton learned, through 
one of his secret agents, that the rebel General Zollicoffer had 
marched his brigade through Cumberland Gap, into Kentucky. On 
the same day General Buckner, who had for some time been sta- 
tioned at Bowling Green in command of a body of " neutral State 
Guards," set out with his men for Louisville. General Rousseau had 
organized a brigade at Jeffersonville, Indiana, but out of respect for 
Kentucky's neutrality was ordered to St. Louis. Governor Morton, 
having been apprised of the movements of ZoUicofier and Buckner, 
had General Rousseau's marching orders countermanded. He was 
ordered to cross the Ohio into Kentucky ; thus Louisville was saved 
from falling into the hands of the rebels, and the fatal charm of neu- 
trality was broken. 

Governor Morton withdrew his secret agents and appealed to 
the people of Indiana to render all possible aid in rescuing Ken- 
tucky from the hands of the secessionists. Many regiments 

responded to the call, and ere the lapse of many months Bowling 

112 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 5 

Green, a strongly fortified position, was occupied by a Federal force 
Zollicoffer was defeated and slain at Mill-spring, and the soil of 
Kentucky cleared of rebel troops. 

The important agency of Governor Morton in bringing about 
these results was universally acknowledged. The " Louisville Jour- 
nal " said of him, " He has been, emphatically, Kentucky's guardian 
spirit from the very commencement of the dangers that now darkly 
threaten her very existence. Kentucky and the whole country owe 
him a large debt of gratitude. Oh, that all the public functionaries 
of the country were as vigilant, as clear-sighted, as energetic, as 
fearless, as chivalric, as lie." 

The wants of Indiana troops in Missoui-i, West Virginia, and 
the Department of the Potomac, received his constant attention, and 
his numerous efficient agents were actively employed in every camp 
where Indiana regiments were stationed. 

The reverses of the national arms had such a discouraging effect 
upon the country, that in most of the States the work of recruiting 
progressed slowly. Not so in Indiana. The faithfulness of Gov 
enor Morton in looking after his soldiers, and providing for theii 
families at home, inspired the people of Indiana with such a degree 
of confidence that the volunteering spirit among them did not abate 
because of national disasters, and by the 11th of December, 1861, an 
aggregate of forty-four volunteer regiments from Indiana were in 
the service of the United States. 

The approach of the first winter of the war seemed likely to find 
large numbers of our troops almost destitute of comfortable clothing, 
owing to tlie misappropriation of supplies, by incompetent and un- 
principled quartermasters. Governor Morton sought to remedy this 
deficiency, so far as the Indiana troops were concerned, by taking tlie 
matter of supplying them with clothing into his own hands. Not- 
withstanding the obstructions thrown in his way, and the insults 
ottered him by thieving officials, by indefatigable energy, he carried 
his points, and had the satisfiction of being assured by his messen- 
gers that his soldiers would not suffer from lack of clothing amid the 

rigors of winter in the mountains of "Western Virginia. 

113 



6 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

Governor Morton's popularity among the soldiers, and his reputa- 
tion in other States, having excited the jealousy of certain ambitious 
politicians, they gave currency to vague charges of mismanagement 
in State military matters, of corruption in the appointment of ofhcers, 
and the awarding of contracts. In compliance with Governor Mor- 
ton's urgent request, a Congressional Investigating Committee visited 
Indianapolis, and made rigid inquiry into the management of mili- 
itary matters in Indiana. The published report of the proceedings 
of this committee not only exonerates him from all blame, but shows 
the greatest care on his part to prevent fraud and peculation. It 
was stated by this committee that, notwithstanding the Indiana troops 
had been better armed and equipped than those of any other west- 
ern State, the expense attending their outfit was less, in proportion to 
the number of men furnished, than that of any other State in the 
Union. 

Governor Morton steadily rose in the estimation of the President 
and the Cabinet, until his influence became greater in Washington 
than that of any other man in the country outside the Executive De- 
partments. Many times was his presence requested in Washington, 
and his counsel solicited in matters of the greatest moment to the 
Government. 

Before the close of the year 1862, more than one hiindred thou- 
sand men liad enlisted from Indiana in the service of the United 
States. Most of these heing Eepublicans, their absence greatly de- 
pleted the strength of the party at home. Mismanagement of officers 
and reverses in the field had cooled the ardor of many who had been 
supporters of the war. Tliese causes operated to produce a defeat 
of the Eepublican party in Indiana in the autumn of 1862, and the 
election of Democratic State officers, and a majority of the Legis- 
lature. Fortunately for the State, Governor Morton held over, hav- 
ing been elected for a term of four years. He stood as the sole ob- 
stacle in the path of reckless men who desired to drag the State into 
alliance with the rebels. 

The Governor transmitted to the Legislature a message in which he 
accurately set forth the condition of the State, and with calmness 

114 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 7 

and dignity made sucli suggestions as were appropriate to the emer- 
gencies of the State and Nation. The Legislature insultingly refused 
to accept this message, and by a joint resolution complimented, and 
virtually adopted, the message of Governor Seymour of New York. 

The Democratic majority in caucus drew up a bill designed to 
take all the military power of the State away from the Governor, 
and place it in the hands of four Democratic State officers. This bill 
was engrossed and only prevented from becoming a law by the with- 
drawal of the Republican members, leaving the Legislature without 
a cpiorum. When the Legislature was thus broken up, no appropria^ 
tions had been made to defray the expenses of the State government 
for the next two years, and Governor Morton must either call the 
Legislature back at the risk of having the State involved in civil wai", 
or borrow the money to carry on the State government. He deter- 
mined to take the latter course, and succeeded in raising nearly two 
million dollars, with which he paid the expenses of the State gov- 
ernment and the interest on the State debt. The money was bor- 
rowed from loyal counties in the State, from railroad companies, 
banks, private persons, and from the house of Winslow, Lanier & 
Co., in New York. During these two years he acted as Auditor 
and Treasurer of State, kept the accounts in his own office, and dis- 
bursed the money upon his own checks. The next Legislature ex- 
amined his accounts, and adopted them witiiout the slightest excep- 
tion, paid up all his borrowed money, and thus relieved him of the 
great responsibilities he had incurred. 

The most persistent and dangerous opposition to Governor Mor- 
ton's administration was a secret association, popularly known as 
'• Knights of the Golden Circle." It had a lodgement in every sec- 
tion of the State, but became most numerous in tliose places where the 
people, not liaving frequent access to the mediums of public intelli- 
gence, became readily the dupes of designing men. The ultimate ex- 
posure of this organization showed that it numbered over 80,000 men, 
bound together by the most solemn oaths, thoroughly drilled and 
ready to obey the call of their masters at any time. 

It was the plan and purpose of the conspiratoi's to rise and seize 

115 



8 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

the "government arsenals, release rebel prisoners at various points in 
the North, furnish them with arms, and after assassinating State and 
United States officers, to take forcible possession of the government. 

To ferret out and defeat the schemes of these conspirators was a 
work of no ordinary magnitude, but it was fully accomplished. 
Tiie Governor employed secret detectives, through whose, activity and 
tact lie obtained an inside view of almost ever}' lodge within the State. 
He was fully informed of all their plans, their financial resources, and 
tlieir strength. Large quantities of arms, consigned to the conspira- 
tors, were seized and confiscated. Several of the chiefs of the con- 
spiracy were arraigned, tried, convicted of treason and punished. 
The opportune discovery and exposure of this plot prevented a ter- 
rible outbreak and massacre on the soil of Indiana, and rescued the 
State from infamy and ruin. 

In the fall of 1864, Governor Morton was re-elected by a majority 
of 22,000 votes. He continued with energy and ardor to prosecute 
the work which for four years had occupied his time and attention. 
He continued to raise soldiers, by volunteering and by draft, until 
the last call was more than met. 

He passed the last year of the war in unceasing activity. At 
Washington, in council with the President ; at the front, beholding the 
brave achievements of his soldiers, moving in person through the hos- 
pitals to ascertain the wants of the sick and wounded, and directing the 
operations of his numerous agents ; at home, superintending sanitary 
movements, appointing extra sui-geous and sending them to the field, 
projecting additional measures for the relief of dependent women and 
cliildren, and attending personally to all the details of the business of 
his otfice — his labors were unsurpassed by tiiose of any man in the 
civil or military service of the country. 

The sudden collapse of the rebellion, and tlie return of the surviv- 
ing heroes of the war, varied, but did not diminish, the labors of the 
Governor of Indiana. He made the amplest arrangements for the 
reception and entertainment of the Indiana volunteers at the State 
ca])ita]. Every regiment was received and welcomed by him in 
person. He gave special attention to the pay department, and saw 

116 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 



that no unnecessary delay detained the veterans from their homes 
and families. 

Finally, the war being ended, and the soldiers dismissed to their 
homes, the long excitement ended, and the day of relaxation came. 
For five years his powers of mind and body were taxed to the ut- 
most. The immense weight of his official responsibilities, the em- 
barrassments which beset him, the gigantic difficulties he had over- 
come, had, apparently, made no inroads upon his frame. The cessa- 
tion of labor and excitement developed the evil results of over-work. 
In the summer of 1865 he was attacked with partial paralysis. The 
efforts of physicians to afford relief were fruitless, and a change of 
scene and climate was advised as the only means of obtaining relief. 
Accordingly, he devolved his official duties upon the Lieutenant 
Governor, and sailed for Europe. After an absence of several months 
he returned, partially relieved, and resumed his official duties. 

In January, 1867, he was elected to the United States Senate, 
and, resigning the Governorship, took his seat on the 4th of March, 
for the term ending in 1873. In the Fortieth Congress he took a 
bold and decided stand against the policy of President Johnson. 
His great speech of January 24, 1868, was one of the most memo- 
rable and effective ever delivei'ed in the United States Senate. 
Describing this effort, Mr. John W. Forney, in a letter to the 
" Philadelphia Press," wrote : 

" The scene this afternoon reminded me of the time when Web- 
ster and Clay spoke to eager and applauding galleries, and of the 
later struggles, after the war began, when Breckenridge, thundering 
treason from his seat, was met and mastered by the martyred Ba- 
ker. . . . Governor Morton's speech surprised even those who knew 
his consummate abilities. Speaking seated in his Senatorial chair, 
on account of his extreme debility, his physical weakness added to 
the interest of his argument. I remember how long, long ago, 
George M'Duffie, of Mississippi, habitually pronounced his dazzling 
rhetoric seated. But in how different a cause the Senator from 
Indiana is engaged ! M'Duffie spoke as a brilliant partisan ; Mor- 
ton almost as an inspired patriot. I will not attempt to give you 

117 



10 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

a glimpse of his tremendous refutation of Democratic falsehoods, or 
his overwhelming vindication of the Republican Congress. . . .After 
he concluded he left the chamber much exhausted, amid the admi- 
ration of his friends and the respect of his enemies. No statesman 
who listened to him but must have been convinced that he had 
heard a master — master not only in intellect but in heart — a pro- 
found thinker and a resistless logician — but more than these, a sin- 
cere and fervent lover of his country and all the oppressed races of 
men." 

During the Forty-first Congress Mr. Morton was Chairman of 
the Committee on Manufactures and a member of the Committees 
on Foreign Relations and Military Affairs. He took a very active 
part in the work of legislation, occupying a prominent position be- 
fore the country as one of the leaders of the Republican party and 
an able supporter of the administration of President Grant. He 
sustained an able part in discussions upon financial questions. 
Pending the Currency bill he opposed the proposition to increase 
the National banking currency, and retain an amount of United 
States notes equal to the addition proposed to the bank circulation-- 
regarding this as non-compliance with a pledge recently given in the 
" Act to strengthen the public credit," that provision should be 
made at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the 
United Spates notes in coin. 

On the 9th of April, 1869, pending the bill in relation to Vir- 
ginia,^Mississippi, and Texas, Mr. Morton submitted as an amend- 
ment an additional section, providing that before these States 
should be admitted to representation in Congress they should ratify 
the proposed Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. He sus- 
tained this proposition by a masterly argument before the Senate. 
Limited space will not allow even an allusion to all the speeches 
of this able statesman and active Senator. They covered the 
•whole ground of Reconstruction. He strove with all his energy 
and ability to secure stringent legislation that would forever pre- 
vent the recurrence of rebellion. 

He introduced a resolution providing for the appointment of a 

118 



OLIVER P. MORTON. H 

Commission to make investigations respecting San Domingo, pend- 
ing which his defense of the measure against the attacks of Mr. 
Sumner evinced his masterly ability, and completely vindicated 
the fairness, integrity, and patriotism of those who favored the 
proposed investigation. 

In 1870 Mr. Morton was tendered by President Grant the mis- 
sion to England. This he declined for important reasons, which he 
gave in a letter to the President, who replied, " I fully concur with 
you in all the reasons which you give for the course which you find 
it your duty to pursue in the matter, but regret that the country 
is not to have your valuable services at the English court at this 
important juncture." 

During the winter of 1871-2 he was Chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Privileges and Elections, which had charge of many ques- 
tions of primary importance, notably the difference between the 
two Houses as to their respective jurisdiction in bills raising reve- 
nue, and the election case of Abbott from North Carolina, where 
he showed a judicial fairness that could not be moved by his party 
attachments. His most brilliant intellectual achievements were in 
the great debate on the French Arms and New York Custom- 
House resolutions, in which he defended Grant's administration 
against Mr. Schurz, Mr. Trumbull, and Mr. Sumner, with a bold- 
ness and skill in the turns of debate, a strength of reasoning and 
readiness in sudden attack or defense, that proved him a debater 
of the first rank. 

In the important political campaign of 1872 the defeat of Mr. 
Morton as a candidate for re-election to the Senate was a darling 
purpose of the Democrats and Liberals, and for this they made a 
closer alliance in Indiana, under the lead of Mr. Hendricks, than 
was effected in any other State. Largely through the untiring 
labors of Mr. Morton, the Kepublicans elected a majority of the 
Legislature and the State officers in October, thus virtually decid- 
ing the Presidential election in November. As a result, Mr. 
Morton was re-elected to the United States Senate for a terra. 

In the succeeding session the political tangle in Louisiana was 

119 



12 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, of which he 
was chairman. After a laborious exaaiination, the widely differing 
opinions of the committee were given in four separate reports, Mr. 
Morton standing alone in his view of the question. A long and 
exciting debate followed, resulting in the substantial adoption of 
the course advocated by him. 

The charges of bribery against Mr. Caldwell, a Senator from 
Kansas, were referred to the same committee. A fair, thorough, 
unshrinking investigation, conducted with open doors, where wit- 
nesses found avoidance impossible and perjury unsafe, and where 
the peo})le could see that perfect justice was shown, ended in a 
report adverse to Mr. Caldwell. Mr. Morton led the debate in the 
Senate upon this case, which took place at the extra session after 
the fourth of March, 1873. It was one of the healthiest in tone 
and most beneticial in effect that ever took place in that body. 
The country was s(5 roused by it to a general expression of abhor- 
rence through the press, that the accused Senator, whose friends 
had at first counted upon an easy victory in the Senate, was now 
driven by the certainty of expulsion to resign. 

In January, 1873, Mr. Morton delivered a speech on the neces- 
sity of a reform in our mode of electing a President which attracted 
the attention of thoughtful men everywhere; and the Senate was 
so impressed with the subject that the Committee on Privileges 
and Elections was specially charged with the investigation of the 
whole system during the ensuing vacation. 

In the Senate he has not failed to meet the high expectations of 
the country. Though somewhat disabled by disease, he has per- 
formed all the work of a statesman and a Senator. His speeches, 
heard by crowded galleries and an attentive Senate, have fallen 
with marked effect upon the country. Though often necessitated 
to speak in a sittiiig posture, he retains the commanding presence 
and the impressive delivery essential to the highest success in ora- 
tory. Unsurpassed in executive ability, as proven by a splendid 
career in another field, he has shown himself the peer of the great- 
est statesmen in legislative talent. 

120 



OERIS S. FERRY. 




|RRIS S. FEKRY was born at Bethel, Fairfield County, 
Connecticut, August 15, 1823. He graduated with honor 
at Yale College in 1844. He subsequently studied law and 
commenced practice at Norwalk, in Connecticut, where he has ever 
since resided. He pursued his profession with diligence, and rose 
rapidly at the bar. 

In politics, Mr. Ferry was of Whig antecedents, and voted and 
worked with that party ; meanwhile he was far in advance of it in lib- 
eral and anti-slavery tendencies. Though active and widely popular, 
he avoided public office until he was nominated and elected to the 
State Senate in 1855. 

When he entered that body, the Nebraska bill and debate had con- 
vulsed Congress, and was agitating the nation to the centre. He 
was made chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, which, 
in Connecticut) is a joint committee of both Houses. He drew up 
the report and resolutions of the Committee, and advocated them with 
earnestness. They were adopted, and became the substance of the 
first platform of the Republican party in the State of Connecticut. 
On that platform he was re-elected in 1856. He was made chairman 
of the same committee in the Legislature, and was again author of 
resolutions which formed the basis of the Republican platform in the 
succeeding election. 

In 1855 a proposition was made in the General Assembly to 
submit to the people an amendment to the State Constitution, con- 
ferring suflrage on colored men. Mr. Ferry knew well that many 
of his Whig supporters were strenuously opposed to the amendment, 

121 



2 ORRIS S. FERRY. 

but convinced that it was right, he gave it his vote, and when it was 
submitted, advocated it publicly. It was defeated by an overwhelm- 
ing majority. The conscientious action of Mr. Ferry nearly cost him 
his election in 1866, reducing his heavy majority of the previous year 
to one hundred and twenty. The old line Whigs actually mourned 
over what they deemed the mistake of a favorite, and voted sadly 
against him. Some of these very men lived to confess their error, 
and openly commend the foresight and courage of the action they 
had condemned. 

Mr. Ferry, during 1855 and 1856, was chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, which is, in Connecticut, a joint committee of both 
Houses. For years, leading men had vainly tried to secure a revision 
of the Judiciary system and laws of the State. Mr. Ferry and the 
committee witli cheerful and persistent energy performed the arduous 
and much-needed labor, overcame the bitter opposition to the change, 
and inaugurated a system which stills gives universal satisfaction. 

In 1856 Mr. Ferry was chosen attarney for the State, which posi- 
tion he filled until 1859, winning well-deserved reputation for ability, 
integrity and faithfulness. 

In 1859 he was nominated for Congress by the Republican party, 
in a doubtful district. He had emerged into public life with the 
Republican party ; bore a leading part in its early struggles, and was 
fired with all the zeal and vigor of its youth. He made a personal 
canvass after the "Western style, a thing not before done in Connecti- 
cut. He possesses remarkable oratorical powers; he relates no 
anecdotes, illustrates rarely from the classics, enlivens his speeches 
only with an occasional pungent thrust, but his power is higher than 
this. To a pure, compact, direct, luminous style he adds the magnetic 
power of a deep and sincere heart, glowing with the ardor of honest 
and profound convictions. He spoke with lofty and fervid eloquence 
in every town and village. The young men rallied to his support, 
and witii great enthusiasm triumphantly elected him. 

Mr. Ferry was an active and unflinching Republican in the stormy 
sessions of the Thirty-sixth Congress. He was a member of the 

122 



ORRIS S. FERRY. 3 

famous committee of thirty-three "upon the state of the Union." 
After careful and searching consideration, he reluctantly concluded 
that adjustment of our national difficulties by legislation was impos- 
sible. He made, on the 2-4th of February, an earnest speech, declar- 
ing that there was " no course left but for the government to vindi- 
cate its dignity by an exhibition of its strength." The speech was 
so savagely criticised by Democrats, and disapproved by hesitating 
Kepubl'icans, as to compass the defeat of Mr. Ferry. The election 
took place early in April, just in the period of apprehension and 

anxiety to avoid collision, which preceded the capture of Sumter. 

After a gallant campaign, Mr. Ferry was beaten by seventeen votes. 

Had the election taken place four weeks later, he would have been 

re-elected by thousands on the merits of his bold, manly and truthful 

speech. 

After his defeat he returned to "Washington, when the capitol was 
threatened. Before troops could arrive from the North, he enrolled 
himself in the Cassius M. Clay Guard, and patrolled Washington 
during those days and nights of alarm. He did not wish to enter 
the three months' service, but as soon as three years' troops were called 
for, he volunteered. He was chosen colonel of the 5th Regiment, 
the second of three years' troops from Connecticut, and quickly 
recruited it from a skeleton to a full regiment of superior men. He 
was early promoted to brigadier-general^ and served with unflagging 
fidelity wherever duty called through the entire war, resigning June 

15th, 1865. 

He immediately applied himself with new zest and characteristic 
diligence to the law, his favorite pursuit, and rapidly regained his 
extensive practice. In the same year the Legislature again sub- 
mitted the colored suffrage amendment to the people. The influence 
of Andrew Johnson was brought to bear against it. Mr. Ferry could 
not prevail on the State Republican Committee to make an active 
canvass, and he resolutely took the stump alone for it. He wrote a 
series of articles, which were subsequently collected by Mr. Stearns, 
of Boston, published and widely distributed. The amendment waa 

123 



4 ORRIS S. FERRY. 

defeated, but by a majoritj' far less than in 1855. The indifferent 
Republicans of 1865 have often since wished that they had seconded 
the earnest endeavor of Mr. Ferry. 

' In 1866 he was elected to the Senate of the United States to suc- 
ceed Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, and took his seat at the beginning 
of the Fortieth Congress, March 4, 1867. In May, 1872, the Ee- 
publicau caucus of the Connecticut Legislature, looking to the elec- 
tion of a Senator for the ensuing term, nominated Genei'al Joseph 
B. Hawley, who received 78 votes over Mr. Ferry, who received 
12 votes. In the election which followed the Democrats went in a 
body for Mr. Ferry, while 17 Republicans voted for him, making 
the vote on joint ballot 133 for Ferrj' and 125 for Hawley ; thus the 
former was re-elected. 

A newspaper correspondent, writing from near the home of Mr. 
Ferry, in explanation of this election, maintained that it was not a 
triumph of the " New Movement," or combination of Democrats 
and Liberals over the Administration Republicans, adding, " It may 
be true that Senator Ferry's political principles and record upon 
amnesty, local government, Santo Domingo, and general reform 
questions, are in harmony with the Cincinnati platform ; but it is 
not for these alone, or primarily, that his Republican friends stood 
by him so nobly. They honor him as a self-poised, self-poasessed, 
independent, candid man. They believed him fairly and honorably 
entitled to another term, and that it is far better to retain a Senator 
of large experience and broad statesmanship." 

Mr. Ferry took his seat for his second term in the Senate of the 
United States, March 4, 1873. As a Senator he is rigidly faithful 
to every duty, vigorously studious in law and political science, im- 
partial in investigation, quick in perception, prompt, fearless, inde- 
pendent, and incorruptible in action. Caring far more to be right 
than to be popular, lie is both esteemed and honored. He is genial 
and brilliant in social qualities, pure and affectionate in domestic 
life, sincere and devout in religious character. 

124 




(3^^ (3^ ch^< 



liONFP.EDrPICKTFPEIJNC-HTrr;:!-,!..: 



FREDERICK T. FRELII^GHUTSEE". 




fEEDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN was bora in Mill- 
stone, Somerset County, New Jersey, August 4, 1817, and 
is the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen, who died quite 
young, but not until he had developed an admirable char- 
acter, had gained distinction for erudition and eloquence at the 
bar, and had acquired great popularity. 

On his father's death he became the adopted son of Theodore 
Frelinghuysen. He was graduated at Rutgers College in 1836, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was soon ehgaged in a 
general and lucrative practice throughout the State. He took an 
active part in all matters of public interest, both benevolent and 
political, and was frequently called upon to address the people. 
At the request of the Republican members of the Legislature in 
1860 he accepted the appointment tendered him as a member of 
the Peace Congress which met at Washington, where he was 
laboi'ious in his efforts to avert the war which he clearly saw im- 
pending, and his speeches in that convention attracted much 
attention. 

In 1861 he received from the Governor of New Jersey the nom- 
ination for Chief Justice of the State, which failed of confirmation, 
the Legislature being Democratic, and on the adjournment thereof 
the office was left vacant. 

In tlie same year he was appointed Attorney General of the 
State of New Jersey, in which position during the war he gave 
almost his entire time and energy in aiding the State to place her 
troops promptly and efficiently in the field, and in keeping the 
public sentiment up to a proper appreciation of the importance of 
rhe duty that the crisis involved. 

125 



2 FREDERICK T. FREL IN G H U YSEN. 

In 1866 he was reappointed Attorney General, and in the same 
year was temporarily appointed United States Senator to fill the 
vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. William "Wright. 

In 1867 he was elected by the Legislature of the State to fill the 
term in the United States Senate which ended in 1869. He 
was then appointed one of the Committee on the Judiciary, as a 
member of which, as well as of a Select Committee, he took a prom- 
inent part in measures for the reconstruction of the States then 
recently in rebellion, which measures, as well as those for the 
relief of the South, he fully discussed in the Senate. He was also 
one of the Committee on Claims, and as such took an active part 
in debate as to the proper limit of the liability of the Government 
for claims growing out of the war. He was also a member of the 
Committee on Naval Affairs. 

Of all the Senators who sat as judges during the impeachment 
trial none gave the case more careful and candid attention than 
Mr. Frelinghuysen. His opinion, pronounced at the conclusion of 
the trial, was an elaborate and able paper, wherein he maintained 
that Mr. Johnson, having manifested " willful, persistent, and 
defiant disregard of law," was guilty of a high misdemeanor re- 
quiring his removal from ofiice. He maintained that " to suffer 
the Executive successfully to assert the right to adjudicate on the 
validity of laws claimed to be inferentially, though not in terms, 
contrary to the Constitution, and to execute such as he approves 
and violate such as he condemns, woidd be to permit the Govern- 
ment to be destroyed." 

In 1869, New Jersey having a Democratic Legislature, Hon. 
John P. Stockton was elected his successor, and Mr. Freling- 
huysen again returned to the practice of the law. 

In the summer of 1870 he was nominated by the President, and 
confirmed by the Senate, to succeed Mr. Motley as minister to En- 
gland, which appointment he declined. In the fall of 1870, the 
State being Republican, he was again elected United States Sen- 
ator to succeed Hon. A. G. Cattell, who had declined a re-electiou, 

and took his seat March 1, 1871. 

126 




h 



J/7 




THOMAS W. TIPTON. 



|HOMAS W. TIPTON was born near Cadiz, Ohio, August 5, 
1817. He was a student at Allegheny College, Meadville, 
and graduated at Madison College, Pennsylvania, in 1840. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1844, aud was elected a member of 
the Ohio Legislature in 1845. He was at the head of a division 
in the General Land Office during Mr. Fillmore's administration, 
and returned to the practice of law in Ohio, in 1853. He received 
license as a Methodist preacher in 1856, but preferring the democ- 
racy of Congregational church government to the Episcopacy, he 
changed the latter for the former. He removed to Nebraska in 
1858, and was soon after elected to a constitutional convention. 
He was a member of the Territorial Senate in 1860. He was 
elected Chaplain of the Ist Nebraska regiment in July, 1861, aud 
appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue for Nebraska in 1866. 
He was elected a United States Senator in 1867, and at the end 
of two years was re-elected for a term of six years. 

Mr. Tipton was a member of the old Whig party, and gave a 
devoted and enthusiastic support to Clay, Taylor, Scott, and 
Fremont for the Presidency. He became a Republican when 
Salmon P. Chase was elected Governor of Ohio. Being in a 
Territory when Mr. Lincoln was twice elected, he was prevented 
voting for him, but canvassed for General Grant in 1868, and for 
Mr. Greeley in 1872. 

That Senator Tipton possesses an individuality of his own, all 
understand who share his intimate acquaintance. From a volume 
of " Pen Sketches of Nebraskiaus," we copy the following : "In 
all matters of State, as well as individual interest, he thinks for 
himself, and acts promptly, independent of all personal considera- 

127 



2 THOMAS W. TIPTON. 

tions. Right, truth, justice, and manhood are the chief attributes 
of his character. When he once forms an opinion he is as iirm 
as the rock of Gibraltar. He is in appearance reserved, with a 
tinge of moroseness resting on his brow, but touch his heart, 
and a well-spring of social greeting flows forth as from a protean 
fountain. He is a great lover of the sublime in nature, is moved 
with sympathy for poverty and distress, is generous with hie 
means, so much so, that had he an income of many thousands he 
would die a poor man. Pie keeps his own counsels, and works 
by the model of an upright life." 

In every position in life, and in discharge of every public trust 
devolved upon him, his character for fidelity has never been 
questioned. He knows no precedent, respects no custom, and 
follows no direction that does not come to him all over radiant 
with the evidences of propriety, necessity, and common sense. 

Of his manner as a public speaker, one of the most popular 
correspondents of the day has said, " This man is by far the keenest 
and boldest humorist of the Senate. He is a ready debater, utter- 
ing sentences as crisp and sparkling as the ablest man about. 
Always timely ; very severe ; and yet his keenest thrusts are 
marked by an indescribable grimness of humor, which makes 
everybody, but the particular object, delighted. He always man- 
ages to say in full what other Congressmen merely hinted at, and 
forebore. His humor is subordinate, and subservient to his 
boldness. He has demonstrated confideuce, coolness, power of 
repartee, and superb aggressiveness. Although not cautious by 
temperament, he never lays himself open to a bad thrust." 

During a term of six years in the Senate, from his first import- 
ant vote, in which he started out in a minority of two, his position 
has generally been that of an independent Republican. Claiming, 
at all times, that a senatorial caucus should only be a consultation, 
and that Senators have no right to place the interests of their 

constituents in the hands of men who owed them no allegiance. 

128 



THOMAS W, TIPTON. 3 

Having entered into the "Liberal Republican" movement, 
which culminated in tlie nomination of Mr. Greeley for the Pres- 
idency, he gave it as true a devotion as ever mortal gave to a 
hallowed cause ; and receives the results of the canvass, proud of 
his position, and record. In the light of the past, he re-affirms 
the closing sentence of his first speech in the great debate of 
December, 1871»: 

" Sir: I have done what I could to present the views which I 
have on this subject; but if we are overruled here, we have the 
consolation of knowiug that, perhaps, clear-headed honesty, 
pure-hearted integrity, unskilled in the wiles of the politician 
and the necessities of hard-pressed partisan leaders, may some 
time come to the conclusion that, though we lose the cause to-day, 
we shall yet gain it in that better time coming." 

In a published speech of Mr. Tipton's, delivered in Washington 
city, in 1849, he foreshadowed his ideal liberal politician, little 
anticipating how nearly he should place the statue upon the pe- 
destal, at the end of twenty-three years. He said, " In order to 
act well his part as a reformer, he must be able, under the banner 
of progress, to meet customs arrogant through age, and fame, 
and wealth, and power ; shut his ears to their pleas for existence; 
curb his avarice against their bribes, and munificence ; his self 
esteem against their blandishments and eulogies ; try them at the 
bar of utility and duty ; sentence them by the law of innovation ; 
hurl them from the pedestal of years ; count their expiring pulses, 
and trample upon their graves, while yet ' their life blood oozes 
from the sod.' He must be endowed with ability, to burst the 
nicely woven chains of sophistry, and nerve sufficient to charge 
treason on the traitor." 

While, as a Republican, Mr. Tipton sustained his party'in their 

mode of reconstruction, he always plea<i for the strictest measure 

of justice for all, as when, in a speech in 1868, he said : "We are 

129 



4 THOMAS W. TIPTON. 

pledged by the spirit of our institutions ; by Pilgrim vows and 
Pilgrim faith ; by interpositions of Providence, from the hour of 
the Mayflower's peril to the fall of treason's banner, to do, by our 
legislation, all and everything demanded by the strictest rules of 
Heaven's justice." In the same spirit, when an efi'ort was made 
to place certain restrictions upon Mississippi and Virginia on 
their re-admission, he said: "The moment they appear at the 
door of the Union, the Constitution meets them, and robing them 
in the only attire of a State, inducts and invests them, the equals 
of all, the inferiors of none." In war he sustained the Union 
army, but in peace he looks with a jealous eye upon every intima- 
tion of force that does not spring from the administration of law 
and Constitution. In chartering railroads by Congress he de- 
mands no impediment to settlement, and no monopoly. He 
desires a very strict construction of the Constitution, and the 
greatest freedom to the largest number. He has an utter con- 
tempt for shams and assumptions, and accordingly, in his first 
published oration in Nebraska exclaimed : "If the time shall ever 
come when the first families or monied aristocrats shall curse our 
soil, may heaven, in mercy, send them an attack of common 
sense or Asiatic cholera." 

He speaks but seldom in the Senate, but is always a faithful 
attendant upon meetings of his committees, and the business 
demands of his constituents. 

130 



THOMAS J. ROBERTSON. 




fHOMAS J. EOBERTSON was born in Fairfield County, 
Soiitli Carolina, August 3, 1823. His father, John Rob- 
ertson, was a wealtliy planter who is still living, honored 
in having served the country as a volunteer in the war of 1812. 

The subject of this sketch pursued his preparatory studies at Mount 
Zion Academy in his native district, and graduated at South Carolina 
College, Columbia, in December, 1843. He entered upon the study 
of medicine, but soon found that this was not congenial to his tastes 
and inclinations, which from the associations of his early life were 
drawn towards agricultural pursuits. He engaged in planting, at 
the same time giving attention to railroad enterprises — -the most 
efficient aids for the development of the agricultural interests of the 
country. 

At the breaking out of tlie rebellion he did not join the multitude 
of Southern people who took arras against the iTnited States, but 
stood forth a remarkable exception among men of his class in loyalty 
to the Union. He remained during the entire war an outspoken 
Union man, and never in any way compromised his position as a 
loyal citizen of the United States. He was a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention which met under the Reconstruction Acts. 
At the first meeting of the General Assembly, under the new Con- 
stitution, he was elected a Senator from South Carolina in the Con- 
gress of the United States by a vote almost unanimous, and took his 
seat July 22, 1868. He was placed on the Committees on Manufac- 
tures and Claims, and was made chah-tnan of the Select Committee 
on the Removal of Political Disabilities. His terra of oflice expires 
March 3, 1871. 

131 



2 THOMAS J. ROBERTSON. 

Mr. Hobertson was re-elected to the Senate for tlie term of six 
years from March 4, 1871. In the Forty-second and Forty-third 
Congresses ho served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufact- 
ures and a member of the Committee on Agriculture. As a 
8outiiern man who preserved his allegiance to the United States 
during the Rebellion, he was prepared to place the responsibility 
of the war where it belonged, as he did in one of his reports as 
Chairman of the Select Committee on the Removal of Political 
Disabilities, in which he said : " The leaders were responsible for 
that action. The people were not suffered to think and act for 
themselves. They were fooled by their leaders, and drawn into 
the war, and therefore I do not hold them responsible." 

Mr. Robertson favored the granting of alternate sections of the 
public lands in the Territories to aid in building railroads where the 
country was undeveloped, but he was unwilling " to go into the 
Territories and give lands there to build railroads in the States." 
He is neither frequent nor voluminoiis in his speeches before the 
Senate. In a direct and business-like way he gives expression to 
his views, and is always tolerant of those who difler with him in 
opinion. 

i:jJ 





^e^^^C^ 



GEORGE E. SPENCER. 




?EOEGE E. SPENCER was born in the town of Champion, 
Jeiferson County, New York, November 1, 1836, the young- 
est of four sons of the late Doctor Gordon P. Spencer, of 
Watertown, New York, who was a surgeon in the United States 
Army during the war of 1812. Doctor Spencer was born in Salis- 
bury, Connecticut, from which State the Spencer family emigrated 
to New York, prominent among them being the Hon. John C. Spen- 
cer, and Ambrose Spencer, names familiar to the country in the 
record of statesmen and lawyers. 

The subject of this sketch, after obtaining a liberal education at 
Montreal College, Canada, returned to his home in Watertown, New 
York, and entered upon the study of the law. But he was impa- 
tient of home restraints, and, having imbibed in early youth a long- 
ing for adventure, determined upon emigrating to the far west. He 
located in the State of Iowa, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and, 
entering actively the arena of politics as a Republican, was chosen 
secretary of the Iowa State Senate at its session of 1857-58. 

At the breaking-out of the rebellion, Mr. Spencer was pioneering 
further westward, engaged in prospecting the mineral resources of 
Colorado and adjacent territory, a true type of the restless but deter- 
mined spirit of American adventure, which has discovered and opened 
up the wealth of gold and silver that has enriched the nation and 
populated the wilderness. He entered the army of the Union as 
captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, and served 
with distinction as chief of staff to Major-Gen. Grenville M. Dodge 
until 1863, when he recruited and raised the 1st Regiment of Ala- 
bama cavalry, composed of the loyal mountaineers of that State, and, 

as colonel, commanded a brigade of cavalry on Sherman's famous 

133 



2 GEORGE E. SPENCER. 

" March to the Sea." He was brevetted a brigadier-general for gal- 
huitry on the fiekl, and, after the war, resumed the practice of the 
hiw at Decatur, Alabama, in the neighborhood of the homes of his 
old comrades of the First Alabama Cavalry. 

Mr. Spencer took a prominent part in the reconstruction of Ala- 
bama, and was appointed a register in bankruptcy bv Chief-Justice 
Chase in May, 1867. In the following year he was elected to the 
United States Senate as a Kepublican, and took his seat July 25, 
1868. He entered upon the duties of his second term in the Senate 
on the 4th of March, 1873. He has served on several important 
committees : Commerce, Pensions, the District of Columbia, Mili- 
tary Affairs, the Select Committee on the Levees of the Mississippi 
River, and the Joint Select Committee on Alleged Outrages in the 
Southern States. 

Although not a frequent speaker, Mr. Spencer is fearless in 
maintaining his opinion on tlie floor of the Senate. The following 
brief illustration of liis style is from liis speech on the enforcement 
of the Fifteenth Amendment : 

" The condition of the South, political and social, is truly de- 
plorable. To be a Eepublican, an advocate of liberty, and a 
supporter of the Administration and its policy, is a heinous critne. 
It sets a mark upon the brow and a price upon the head. There 
is no such thing in the South to-day as freedom of speech, freedom 
of thought, and freedom of action, except it be in those rare locali- 
ties where the inhabitants chance to be all loyal." 

He has faithfully maintained the interests of the colored people 
of the South, as appears from the following passage in his speech 
in the Senate during the discussion of the labor question and the 
eight-hour system : " Their toil is now their own, consecrated to 
them by the best blood of free America; and it is a matter of 
deep concern to the country and to myself that they shall receive 
the benefits of that freedom, not only in their labor, but in their 
education ; as well in books as in their new relations as citizens of 
the Republic." 

134 







^--^-^^^ 



ADELBERT AMES. 




DELBERT AMES was born at Eockland, Maine, October 
31, 1835. He received an academic education in his 



native State, and was admitted to the United States 
Military Academy as a cadet July 1, 1856. He gradu- 
ated, ranking fifth in his class, May 6, 1861, an opportune moment, 
for, the War of the Rebellion having just broken out, there was a 
loud and urgent call from the country for men of military education 
for her service. Mr. Ames immediately entered upon active duty 
as 2d Lieutenant of the Second Artillery. His first duty was drill- 
ing volunteers in Washington, in which he was employed until 
July, when he participated in the memorable Manassas campaign. 
In the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he was severely wounded, 
and was breveted Major for his gallant and meritorious services. 
He was disabled by his wounds until September, when he resumed 
active duty and served in the defenses of Washington until March, 
1862. He then participated in the Virginia Peninsular campaign, 
and was engaged in the siege of Yorktown, the battle of Gaines' 
Mill, and the battle of Malvern Hill, where his gallant conduct 
earned promotion to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. 

He was appointed Colonel of the 20th Regiment of Maine Volun- 
teers, August 29, 1862, and a few days later was with his command 
in the battle of Antietam. He then took part in the Rappahannock 
campaign, engaging in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 
1862. He was in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, acting 
as Aid-de-eamp to General Meade. Having been promoted to the 
rank of Brigadier-General of Volunteers, he command a brigade at 
the battle of Beverly Ford, May 20, 1863. He fought in the battle 
of Gettysburg]!, July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, and engaged in the pursuit 

135 



2 ADELBERTAMES. 

of the enemy to Warrenton, Virginia. For his gallantry in the 
battle of Gettysburg he was breveted Colonel in the regular army. 
From August, 1S63, to the following April, he engaged in the opera- 
tions of the Department of the South. 

In command of a brigade or division of the 18th Army Corps he 
aided in the operations before Petersburg, engaging in the action of 
Whitehall Junction, May 7, 1864, and the battle of Cold Harbor, 
June 1, 1864. Subsequently, in command of a division of the 10th 
Army Corps, he engaged in the actions of Darbytown Eoad. He 
afterward joined in the first and second expeditions against Fort 
Fisher, participating in the assault and capture of that stronghold, 
January 15, 1865. For his distinguished services on this occasion 
he was breveted Major-General of Volunteers. He was mustered 
out of the Volunteer service April 30, 1866. 

In consideration of gallant and meritorious services in the field 
during the Rebellion he was breveted Major-General in the regular 
army. Under the Reconstruction Act he was appointed Provisional 
Governor of Mississippi, June 15, 1868, and was p pointed to the 
command of the Fourth Military District, Department of Missis- 
sippi, March 17, 1869. He was elected United States Senator 
from Mississippi, January 18, 1870. His credentials having been 
presented to the Senate, were referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, who reported that General Ames was not entitled to tlie 
seat in the Senate to which he had been appointed, Mr. Rice alone 
of the Committee dissenting from this conclusion. An exhaustive 
and able debate ensued, running through several da^-s, in which was 
discussed the meaning of the constitutional requirement that a man 
to be a Senator must be an "inhabitant of that State for which he 
shall be chosen," and whether it was in the power of a person in 
the military service to choose his place of residence. Finally, April 
1, 1870, the Senate disagreed to the report of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee by a vote of forty to twelve, and Mr. Ames was immediately 
sworn in as a Senator of tlie United States. He was appointed on 
the Committee on Military Aifairs and the Militia, and the Select 
Committee on the Removal of Political Disabilities. 

136 



THOMAS F. BAYARD. 



^¥®^HOMAS FEANOIS BAYAED was born in Wilming- 
PM ton, Delaware, October 28, 1828. His father, Hon. 
' <^^ James A. Bayard, and his grandfather, of the same name, 
were both Senators of the United States — the latter hav- 
ing also been Minister to France, and one of the Commissioners who 
negotiated the Treaty of Ghent. His great grandfather, Eichard 
Bassett, was a delegate to the Convention which formed the Fed- 
eral Constitution, and was a Senator in Congress from Delaware. 

The subject of this sketch was chietly educated at the Flushing 
School, established by Eev. Dr. F. L. Hawks. His early training 
was for mercantile life, but his tastes and talents were for the bar. 
He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 18.51. With the 
exception of two years, spent in Philadelphia, he has ever since 
practiced in his native city. In 1853 he was appointed United 
States District Attorney for Delaware, but resigned in the follow- 
ing year for the purpose of devoting himself to his own private and 
professional business. 

He was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat to 
succeed his father, and took his seat in that body March 4, 1869. 
He has served on the Committee on Finance, the Committee on 
Privileges and Elections, and the Committee on the Eevision of 
the Laws of the United States. From his entrance into the Senate 
Mr. Bayard has borne a prominent and able part in debate. In 
his speech on the Civil Tenure Act he took a decided stand against 
the suspension of the law, and in favor of its absolute repeal, be- 
lieving it to be uncalled for and without constitutional warrant. 
In his remarks upon the bill authorizing the submission to tlie 
people of the Constitutions of Virginia. Mississippi, and Texas, Mr. 

137 



2 THOMAS F. BAYARD. 

Bayard declared himself as having been opposed to the " series of 
measures called reconstruction, believing them to be in direct, 
open, and flagrant violation of the spirit and the letter of the fun- 
damental law of this country." He excepted to the bill for en- 
forcing the Fifteenth Amendment, as grasping at the whole control 
of elections, and intended not to prevent discrimination between 
races, but to discriminate directly against the white race and in 
favor of the black. He also opposed the bill for abolishing the 
Franking Privilege, and animadverted with severity upon the in- 
fluence of the Post-Ofiice Department in procuring the multitude 
of petitions flowing in upon Congress for this object. 

He is one of the ablest defenders of Democratic principles and 
policy on the floor of the Senate. He earnestly opposed the union 
of the Democratic part}' with the Liberal Republican movement 
in the political campaign of 1872. He acquiesced in the decision 
of the National Convention; but ill health, which necessitated a 
trip to Europe, prevented him from taking an active part in the 
campaign. From family associations, study, and observation, he 
has been well furnished for a successful career as a politician and 
statesman. His speeches manifest the skillful lawyer and the 
accomplished rhetorician. Without the voice necessary to success- 
ful oratory in noisy assemblies, yet his well-considei'ed matter and 
graceful manner render him an agreeable and successful debater in 
the hall of the Senate. 

138 



AETHUE I. BOEEMAK 




I^^^TRVR INGHEAM BOEEMAN was born in Waynes- 
burg, Pennsylvania, July 24, 1823. His grandfather 
was born in London, and, coining to this country before 
tlie Revolutionary War, became a pay-master in the 
Continental army, and subsequently settling at Waynesburg, he 
held all the various clerk's ofBces for the county many years. 
When the subject of this sketch was a child his father removed to 
Western Virginia, where he received a common-school education, 
studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845, and commenced 
the practice at Parkersburg. In 1855 he was elected to the House 
of Delegates of Virginia, and during six years represented liis 
neighbors in that capacity at Richmond. He was in the State 
Legislature in the extra session in the spring of 1861, taking an 
active part against the secession movement. While the Legislature 
Was in session a Convention was held in Richmond for the purpose 
of carrying Virginia out of the Union. Excitement became very 
great. The Legislature was lost sight of in the superior importance 
of the deliberations of the Convention. Mr. Boreman left Rich- 
mond finally, after the adjournment of the Legislature, about the 
time the ordinance of secession was passed, with the determination 
of doing his utmost to stay the progress of rebellion. He was 
president of the Wheeling Convention, held in 1861 for the pur- 
pose of reorganizing the government of Virginia. In October of 
that year he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, and held that 
ofBce until 1863, when, the old state of Virginia having been 
divided and West Virginia constructed, Mr. Boreman was unani- 
mously chosen the first Governor, no vote being cast against 
him. In 1864 another gubernatorial election was held, and he was 
again unanimously elected, receiving 19,098 votes. In 1866 he was 

139 



9 ARTHUR I. BOREMAN. 

elected for tlie third time. A Democratic candidate was put up 
against liiin, but Governor Boreman received 23,802 votes to 17,158 
for his opponent, a majority of 6,644. As Governor he cordially 
and efficiently co-operated vpith the General Government in the 
work of suppressing the rebellion. Under his administration 
more than 33,000 troops were sent into the field, who were among 
the bravest and most efficient soldiers in the Union armies. Gov- 
ernor Boreman made efficient use of the means at his disposal 
within his own State, seldom calling on the War Department for 
aid, which, whenever called for, was promptly granted. Secretary 
Stanton, after the close of the war, repeatedly expressed himself in 
terms of highest commendation of Governor Boreman's administra- 
tion, and his efficient co-operation witli the government at Wash- 
ington. Such was the sleepless vigilance and tireless energy of 
Governor Boreman dnring the war, and amid the emergencies, 
equally trying, of the years immediately following, that his health 
was seriously and permanently impaired ; not, however, to such a 
degree as to prevent him from giving further service to the country. 
In 1868 Mr. Boreman declined a re-election as Governor, and 
was in the following year chosen United States Senator, to succeed 
Peter G. Van Winkle, for the term of six years from the 4tli of 
March, 1869. During the Forty-first Congress Mr. Boreman served 
on the Committees on Manufactures, Territories, and the Removal 
of Political Disabilities. The principal speech made by him dur- 
ing this Congress was on the bill to admit the State of Georgia to 
representation. He viewed the subject as " involving questions of 
great State policy, and not of mere technical law," and urged that 
" the hesitating policy which had characterized the action of Con- 
gress at almost every step, since the close of the war, looking to the 
reconstruction of the rebel States, should not lead us to commit an 
irreparable injury in the case of Georgia." He comprehensively 
reviewed the course of Congress in reconstruction, which " after 
near two years of temporizing" at length began in earnest, and 
" has been progressing in the midst of opposition and obstacle to 

tlie present time." 

140 




-^=S ■* V J C B-u.'-W 



fre rhvu^^t^r^ 



HON.W G.B ROWN LO W. 

SEMAT''!'^ KRrWjf rf.NHF.SSKF. 



WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 




^%f ILLIAM G. BEOWNLOW was born in Wythe County, 
Va., August 29, 1805. Until eighteen years oM he was 
reared to labor, and afterward served as a regular appren- 
tice to a house-carpenter. " I have been a laboring man," 
he states, " all my life long, and have acted upon the scriptural 
maxim of eating my bread in the sweat of my brow ;" and it was 
one of his declared sentiments that labor was not degrading, was 
digniiied rather, and essential to the welfare of the country. 

Mr. Brownlow's education, as may be inferred, was imperfect, 
and was defetitive, as he asserts, even in those branches taught in 
the common schools of the country. Like many other indigent 
but worthy young men, he acquired by his trade the means of 
supplying the defects of early mental training. After this he en- 
tered the Methodist itinerant ministry, traveling during ten years 
without intermission, and availed himself meanwltile of his position 
to improve still further his limited education, especially in all the 
English branches. 

After retiring from the itinerant ministry Mr. Brownlow com- 
menced the editing and publishing of the Kiwxville Whig, in 
which occupation he continued for twenty-five years, his paper 
having a larger circulation than any political newspaper in the 
State of Tennessee, and taking meanwhile an active part in all the 
religious and political controversies of the time. He published 
meanwhile several books, mostly of a controversial character. At 
the same time, though much of a controversialist, he seems never- 
theless to have been a man of peace, and singularly free from the 
prevalent vices of the day. " I have never," he says, " been ar- 
raigned in the Church for any immorality. I never played a card. 
I never was a profane swearer. I never drank a dram of liquor 
until within a few years, when it was taken as a medicine. I 

141 



2 W I L L I A M G. B R W N L O W. 

never had a cigar or a chew of tobacco in my month. I never was 
in attendance at a theater. I never attended a horse-race, and 
never witnessed their running save on fair grounds of my own 
county. I never courted but one woman, and her I married." 

Mr. Brownlow was in politics an " Old Line Whig," and his 
confession of political faith he thus expresses : " I am the advocate 
of a concentrated Federal government, or of a strong central gov- 
ernment, able to maintain its dignity, to assert its authority, and 
to crash out any rebellion that may be inaugurated. I have never 
been a sectional, but at all times a national man, supporting men for 
the Presidency and Vice-Presidency without any regard on which 
side of Mason and Dixon's line they were born or resided at the 
time of their nomination ; in a word, I am, as I ever have been, an 
ardent Whig, and Clay and Webster have ever been my standards 
of political orthodoxy. With the breaking up of old parties I have 
mero-ed every thing into the great question of the Union, the Con- 
stitution, and the enforcement of the laws." 

From all this it followed that Mr. Brownlow was among the 
sternest and most uncompromising of Union men, and a bitter and 
unrelenting foe of secession. This he fought early and late, 
through all evil report, and at the greatest hazard to life and limb, 
and contended against it with the severest blows of logic, with the 
most scathing and terrible denunciations, and even with the keen- 
est shafts of ridicule. On the eve of secession, and always before, 
he was equally pitted against the abolitionism of the North. A 
strono- pro-slavery man, and having a tendency to controversy, 
he had persistently advocated from a scriptural stand-point 
the propriety and righteousness of American slavery, and was 
long recognized as one of its principal champions in the 
South. Standing between these two great evils, as he viewed 
them he dealt his heaviest blows upon them both ; but as he 
beheld the demon of secession actually rearing and spreading 
itself over the Southern States, it at once revealed itself to him 
as a calamity more to be dreaded than the abolition of slavery. 

If he favored the latter, he, however, prized the union of tliese 

142 



WILLIAM 6. BROWNLOW. 3 

States far more, and if one or the other must perish, he preferred 
it should be slavery. 

It could not be otherwise than that the bold and determined 
stand assumed by Mr. Brownlow, both by pen and voice, against 
secession, should bring against him in return a fearful array of hos- 
tility, denunciation, and ultimate persecution. One of the earlier 
manifestations of hatred and enmity was the withdrawal of patron- 
age from his paper, together with the ungracious addresses accom- 
panying such withdrawal. 

In March, 1861, Mr. Brownlow issued several thousands of 
copies of a circular declaring himself a candidate for the office of 
Governor of Tennessee, but subsequently withdrew from the con- 
test in favor of another candidate, whom he supposed to be more 
likely to defeat secession. In the following autumn, as the result 
of publishing in his paper several taunting and ironical calls to the 
secession leaders in East Tennessee to volunteer as soldiers, his 
paper was promptly suppressed, and his arrest was determined upon. 
With this prospect before him he writes, " I expect to go to jail, 
and I am ready to start upon one moment's warning. Not only 
so, but there I am prepared to lie in solitary confinement until I 
waste away because of imprisonment, or die from old age. Stimu- 
lated by a consciousness of innocent uprightness, I will submit to 
imprisonment for life or die at the end of a rope before I will 
make any humiliating concession to any power on earth. I shall 
in no degree feel humbled by being east into prison ; but, on the 
contrary, I shall feel proud of my confinement. I shall go to jail, 
as John Kodgers went to the stake, for vay prvnciples. I shall go 
because I have failed to recognize the hand of God in the breaking 
up of the American Government, and the inauguration of the most 
wicked, cruel, unnatural, and uncalled-for war ever recorded in 
history." 

After the suppression of his paper, however, and previously to 
his imprisonment, Mr. Brownlow, at his home in Knoxville, was 
the subject of daily insults from the secessionists, accompanied with 
threats against his life. Under these circumstances he was jjer- 

143 



WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 



snaded by his family and other friends to retire for a season from 
his home, and conceal himself from his murderous enemies. He 
accordingly took leave of his family early in November, and, with 
a few other loyal men, withdrew into the Smoky Mountains, sepa- 
rating North Carolina from Tennessee, a wild region, difficult of 
access, and quite beyond the precincts of civilization. Here the 
party encamped, receiving during the time their supplies from 
friends who were aware of their hiding-place. The fugitives, 
especially Brownlow, were diligently searched for by their ene- 
mies, until prudence dictated a separation and dispersion to dif- 
ferent localities. Mr. Brownlow, with a companion, left the 
mountains by night, and after a ride of about forty miles on horse- 
back, came by morning to a resting-place six miles from Knox- 
ville, where they were provided with comfortable lodgings at the 
house of a friend. While here he was promised by the secession 
General Crittenden a passport and military escort to go to Ken- 
tucky, as being a too influential and troublesome man to be toler- 
ated within the. Confederate lines. He reported himself accord- 
ingly to General Crittenden, received a renewal of the promise of 
passport and escort, and was to start on the morning of December 
7. Before the appointed time arrived, however, he was arrested 
on a warrant for treason, failed of protection from Crittenden, 
refused a trial and bail, and was committed to the common 
jail. Here about one hundred and fifty Union men, old and 
young, were incarcerated, and so crowded was the building tiiat 
there was not room for all to lie down at once, but the prisoners 
were obliged to sleep and rest by turns. Many of these prisoners 
were old and tried friends of Mr. Brownlow, and hailed his en- 
trance among them with sui"j)rise and tears. Finding them gen- 
erally depressed in spirits, and fearing the worst, he addressed 
them, saying, " Gentlemen, don't take your confinement so much 
to heai't ; rather glory in it as patriots devoted to your country 
and to your principles. ... I am here with you to share your sor- 
rows and suflerings, and here I intend to stay until the rebels 

release me or execute me, or until the Federal army sliall come to 

144 



WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 5 

my rescue. You may take a different view of the subject, but 1 
regard this as the proudest day of iiiy life." 

After a confinement of nearly a month Mr. Brownlow was taken 
with severe sickness, and, on the application of his physician, was 
permitted to exchange the confinement of the prison for a private 
room on his own premises, where he was guarded as at the jail. 
Here he continued till the first of March, when the ofiicer in com- 
mand of the post was authorized by the Richmond Government to 
send him within the Federal lines, where he was received with the 
most cordial welcome. 

Mr. Brownlow, shortly after reaching Nashville, proceeded north, 
and visited many of the principal cities, taking in his route Cin- 
cinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Harrisburgh, 
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, addressing crowds of 
people wherever he came, and being everywhere received with 
flattering welcome. A few weeks after his departure from Knox- 
ville, Mrs. Brownlow received notice that herself and family would 
be required to pass beyond the Confederate lines within thirty-six 
hours, and that passports would be granted them accordingly. 
They reached Bordentown, IST. J., in safety, where Mr. Brownlow 
was waiting to receive them. 

Mr. Brownlow was a member of the Constitutional Convention 
for the reorganization of the State of Tennessee, and on the 4th of 
March, 1865, was elected Governor with almost no opposition. In 
1867 he was re-elected against Emerson Etheridge, the opposition 
candidate, and on March 4, 1869, took his seat in the Senate of 
the United States to succeed David T. Patterson. 

Mr. Brownlow was placed on the Committees on Pensions and 
Revolutionary Claims. His state of health seems to have pre- 
vented him from an extended record of service in the Forty -first 
Congress, although no Senator was more constant in his attendance 
upon the sessions of the Senate. At its first session he on the 
15th of December had leave to present, as a personal explanation, 
a speech in the form of a letter relating to a previous election in 

Tennessee. 

145 



6 WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 

On the fifteenth of February, 1872, Mr. Brownlow, having been 
charged by Mr. Beck, in the House of Representatives, with being 
a " refugee," made a personal explanation, which was read at tiie 
desiv by the Secretary of the Senate. This address contained 
interesting matter of personal history, of which the following 
paragraphs are specimens : 

" I am a refugee, and while tlie short limit of my life endures, 
cannot recover from its outward signs. These feeble limbs that 
need assistance to bring me to this chamber ; these palsied hands 
that ask for help to write ; my whispering voice that cannot speak 
my thoughts, all bear testimony to the fact — I am a refugee. It is 
a coward's part to call me one, but yet I hold the title as an honor. 

I first became a refugee on the fifth day of November, 1861, 
having remained in Knoxville defending the cause of my country 
against organized treason, at the risk of my life, until that day. 
How I have escaped immolation I do not know, except that it was 
in the mercy of God's providence, which sustained me in ray 
efforts to put down a hell-born rebellion. My paper had been 
suppressed, and my arrest for treason against the Southern Confed- 
eracy determined upon. ... I found a hiding-place from the blood- 
hounds of the rebellion in the smoky mountains which separate 
North Carolina from Tennessee, beyond the precincts of civiliza- 
tion. Amid the high summits of this range, and in one of their 
deep gorges where no vehicle had ever penetrated, 1 found a tem- 
porary refuge, until rebel scouts discovered my hiding-place. I 
was then induced by false promises of protection, and being sent 
through the lines, to deliver myself to the rebel authorities of the 
confederacy in Tennessee, but they treacherously threw me into 
prison. I will not detail the dreary hours of that incarceration, in 
which I saw men led from my side to an execution which I ex- 
pected daily to share ; others dying of fever ; the agonized cries 
of wives and children of men sent to death for loving their coun- 
try. I, who was second to no man in strength and vigor of body 
and constitution, came out of prison sick, and have never recovered 

from the sliock my system then received." 

146 »« 




nfiMuM 




WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 




'aRS^^II^LIAM A. BUCKINGHAM was born in Lebanon, 



Conn., May 2i, 1804. At the age of twenty lie com- 
menced a course of training for mercantile life, and two 
years later established himself as a merchant in the city of Nor- 
wich, where his career has been alike successful and honorable. 
His enterprising life, liis prudence, thrift, punctuality, and spotless 
integrity, have given him in the business circles of the country a 
name without blemish or reproach. 

In 1858 he was elected Governor of Connecticut, and was suc- 
cessively re-elected in the seven years following. From the com- 
mencement of the national troubles he conceived that compromise 
with the South was impossible, that the great struggle for liberty 
in this country was at hand, and that no human agency could 
avert the storm. Hence the news of the fall of Sumter, and the 
Presidential call for troops, found Governor Buckingham awake to 
the .great crisis, and though the State Legislature was not in ses- 
sion, yet his extensive financial relations enabled him to command 
at once the necessary funds for equipping tlie militia for the field. 
Influential and strong men were ready to co-operate with him at 
this critical period, and the Governor gave himself with a will to 
the great work ; and when, by the uprising of rebellion in Mary- 
land, Washington was deemed in imminent peril, the first tidings 
received from the North was that Connecticut was rising as one 
man for the rescue of the government, thus giving assurance to the 
President that the national capital was safe. 

The advanced and enlightened views of Governor Buckingham 
at this very beginning of the great struggle are noteworthy and 
remarkable. In an otiicial communication to President Lincoln 
he insisted that this was no ordinary rebellion ; that more than 

U7 



2 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 

300,000 men were already organized and armed against tlie gov- 
ernment; that these gigantic preparations should be met and sup- 
pressed by a power of corresponding magnitude ; that tlie princi- 
ples of equity and justice, the claims of humanity, civilization, and 
religion unite in demanding a sufficient force to drive the rebels 
from every field ; that half a million of men should at once be 
raised for this purpose ; that all other legislation than what was 
demanded for suppressing the rebellion should be deemed out of 
place until the authority of the government should be respected in 
every section of the country ; and he pledged the State of Con- 
necticut, with its entire resources, to co-operate with the General 
Government in carrying out the strong and patriotic measures 
which he suggested. 

Thus Governor Buckingham possessed a clearer vision of the 
importance and magnitude of the rebellion than many other states- 
men. He had little faith that " the war would be over in sixty 
days," or in " three months," nor, as it loomed up in greater and 
more alarming proportions, did his energy and courage falter in 
the least degree. He was among the earliest to urge upon the 
President the policy of emancipation, alleging strong and unan- 
swerable arguments in its favor ; and when at length the cautious 
yet brave Lincoln sent forth his proclamation of September 24:, 
1862, the equally brave Governor of Connecticut was among the 
first to congratulate him and the country. Indeed, from the be- 
ginning to the end Governor Buckingham was one of those effi- 
cient and loyal magistrates who rallied closely around President 
Lincoln, advising and cheering him in the dark hours of the war, 
assuring him of the fidelity of the people, and that the loyal 
masses of the North would carry him safely through the mighty 
strujjgle. 

The Republicans of Connecticut signified their appreciation of 
his services to the State and the nation in electing him to the 
United States Senate, to succeed Hon. James Dixon, and he took 
his seat on the 4tli of March, 1869. He was assigned a place in 
the Committees on Commerce, Engrossed Bills, and Indian Affairs. 

148 




^./^^^U6 . A'^Y^^^i^-ny^^ 



> I ^mmx-JUiT/^T- -p n/ pr5t7'>T(m;' 



MATTHEW H. CAEPEKTER. 




^-^^IaTTHEW II. CARPENTER was born December 22, 
1824, at Mooretown, Washington County, Vermont. In 
June, 1843, at the age of nineteea, he bore the requisite 
examination and was entered a cadet at West Point, 
where he maintained an honorable position until he resigned in 
1845, on account of ill health, while his class was on furlough. 

He soon thereafter entered upon the study of the law in the 
office of the Hon. Paul Dillingham, of Waterbury, Vermont, under 
whose instruction, and by a course of systematic reading, he 
acquired a knowledge of those solid elementary principles of the 
law which have been the ground-work of his future success at the 
Bar. His great aptitude in grouping and comprehending princi- 
ples, his powers of reasoning and critical analysis, his readiness of 
perception and retentive memory, with intense application, soon 
made him complete master of the learning and theories of his pro- 
fession, and perfectly qualified him for admission to the Bar, and he 
was accordingly admitted at Montpelier, Vermont, in the spring of 
1847. He immediately entered upon the practice and active duties 
of his profession in no obscure place, and with none of that doubt- 
ing timidity tliat shrinks from competition, for he sought a position 
in the office of Hon. Rufus Choate, of Boston, as his assistant, and 
continued with that great lawyer, at the period of his highest 
maturity and greatest practice, until July, 1848. How much famil- 
iar intercourse with Mr. Choate, socially and professionally, and 
the exalted abilities, eloquence, peculiar liianner, and high standing 
as a lawyer of such an example and instructor may have iniinenced 
a young man so impressible as Mr. Cai'penter, and so capable of 
appreciating such high qualities, cannot be known. But however 

14:9 



2 MATTHEW n. CARPENTER. 

much of an impetus may have been, and certainly was, given to his 
progress by such a connection, and however much his ambition and 
emuhition may have been excited, he became no mere copyist or 
imitator, but has always maintained his own natural manner and 
peculiar style of oratory. And yet the advantages of such instruc- 
tion and intercourse must have been most efficient and salutary in 
forming and shaping his future career, as we know they have been 
in securing his lasting admiration and gratitude. 

After being admitted to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massa- 
chusetts he went to Beloit, Wisconsin, one of the most flourishing 
young cities of the State, and commenced his independent career as 
a lawyer, with scarcely any other means than his ready and com- 
manding abilities as a counselor and advocate, and secured from the 
start a large and lucrative practice. He was soon elected to the 
office of District-Attorney of Rock County, and held it for two 
terms with great credit to himself and usefulness to the public. 
He very soon attained the highest I'ank among a Bar conceded to be 
as able as any in the West, and was unexcelled as a profound law- 
yer and eloquent advocate, and no lawyer anywhere has been 
engaged in more cases or of greater importance. In 1851 he con- 
ducted a cause involving the questions of dedication to public use, 
of the legality of city plats, and of estoppel by deed and in pais 
concerning a public landing on Rock River, in the city of Beloit. 
The case came to the Supreme Court of the State when at that 
time in that Court such questions were new, and Mr. Carpenter's 
brief, reported in full with the opinion of the Court, is a master- 
piece of legal investigation and learning, and the most elaborate to 
be found in the reports of that Court, passing in review the leading 
authorities of England and this country on the question involved — 
over one hundred cited cases. 

In 1856 that very remarkable proceeding by quo warranto to try 
the title of the office of Governor of Wisconsin, between the 
relator Bashford and the incumbent Barstow, was argued in the 
Supreme Court. Mr. Cai-penter was the leading counsel for the 
respondent. The questions were then new and very important, 

150 



MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. 3 

involving an iuquiry into the constitutional principles of our State 
governments and the relative power of the departments, and his 
brief in that cause, with an abstract of his argument, showing a 
clear understanding of the subject and great research, were also 
published with the opinion of the Court in the Wisconsin Reports. 
These two cases are not nientioned because they were the only ones 
of great importance in which he was thus early engaged, but as 
indicating the class of causes in which his services were sought, and 
which he was deemed fully able to manage. 

His practice in "Wisconsin constitutes a very large part of the 
judicial history of the State, and for several years past his has been 
the most familiar and attractive presence in the Supreme Court of 
the United States. He was retained by the late and lamented 
Stanton, when Secretary of War, to argue before the Supreme 
Court several important causes growing out of the reconstruction 
measures of Congress, and involving the constitutional powers of 
the Government. His able arguments in the Garland and McAr- 
die cases bear indubitable evidence of his ability and high position 
in the highest ranks of the profession ; and it is safe to assume that, 
more than any other lawyer in the country, he has impressed his 
views upon the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
States in the disposition of the great and complicated questions 
arising from the war of the Rebellion and the anomalous condition 
of the reconstructed States. His legal practice has been most 
extensive and diversified, and his researches and knowledge in all 
branches of jurisprudence are exhaustive and profound. But as a 
mere lawyer and able counselor he is not alone distinguished. 
Although not often associated in the same individual, yet in him we 
find a remarkable combination of the highest powers of reason and 
logic, great learning, clear and impartial judgment, with the embel- 
lishments of imagination, eloquence, and wit. His exalted position 
both at the Bar and in the Senate, his forensic efforts and his ad- 
dresses before popular assemblies, have exhibited him as an orator 
seldom rivaled, as all who have heard him will freely concede. 

His literary acquirements are extensive, and his tastes cultivated 

151 



4 MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. 

and refined. His intimate knowledge of books, of law, and of lit- 
erature cor.ld only be acquired by the most constant and severe 
study and reading, and he has gathered the largest and best selected 
libraries of both law and miscellaneous literature in the country. 

In the common acceptation of the word he has never been a pol- 
itician or an office-seeker. Both by education and natural impulse 
he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and he acted ably and disinterest- 
edly with the Democratic part}' until he conscientiously believed 
that to continue longer his party connection would rank him with 
the enemies of his country, and he then, at the risk of odium and 
proscription, broke ranks, and has since stood shoulder to shoulder 
with the Republican party. 

Mr. Carpenter was elected a United States Senator from "Wisconsin, 
to succeed Mr. Doolittle, and took his seat March 4, 1869. He served 
as a member of the Committees on the Judiciary, Patents, the Re- 
vision of the Laws of the United States, and Privileges and Elec- 
tions. From the first he has borne a conspicuous and able part in 
the debates of the Senate, participating in nearly all important 
discussions. His speech in reply to Sumner and Schurz, during 
the French Arms debate, attracted special attention. It is said to 
have been more widely circulated than any other public document 
during the political campaign of 1872, more than one million 
copies having been distributed from Washington alone. In March, 
1873, he was elected President of the Senate pro tempore. 

He has a striking and attractive personal appearance, and pos- 
sesses fine eyes, thick brown hair, and a good complexion. He is 
a fluent speaker, an agreeable debater, and a shrewd parliamentary 
leader. He is now in the full maturity of his life, but by no means 
near the end of his acquirements and improvement ; for his great 
industry, constant study, and untiring and restless activity must 
advance him still higher in the shining pathway on which he has 
entered. 



152 



EUGENE OASSERLY. 




UGENE CASSEELY is a native of Ireland, bom in 
1823. When four years old he came with his parents to 
America and settled in New York city. Y'^oung Casserly 
fared better than most children of newly-arrived emi- 
grants in the city, and instead of being left to the uncertain educa- 
tion of the streets, he received careful instruction in classical and 
general studies. 

After leaving school he spent five years as an attache of the 
newspaper press. Meanwhile, having studied law, he was in 1845 
admitted to practice in the courts of New Y'ork. In 184-6-47 he 
served as Corporation Attorney. He continued the practice of law 
in New York until 1850, when he went to California, and made 
his residence in San Francisco, where he has since resided. He 
began life in California as the publisher of a daily paper, and in 
1851-52 was State printer. He then resumed the practice of law, 
which he continued iintil November, 1868, when he was elected 
United States Senator from California. 

On taking his seat in the Senate, March 4, 1869, Mr. Casserly 
was placed on the Committees on Foreign Relations, Public Lands, 
and Printing. He began early to rank among the most active 
members and most frequent speakers of the Senate. His manner 
of addressing the body is fluent, easy, and generally imimpassioned. 
His views on all party questions, which are strongly Democratic, 
are presented clearly, often forcibly, and always persistently. His 
first extended speech was in favor of repealing the Civil-Tenure 
Act. He gave no countenance to the idea of merely suspending 
the law. Said he, "I am for the repeal of the law, pure and sim- 
ple. I shall vote for that because I believe the Tenure-of-Ofiice 
Act to be a violation of the Constitution, and to have engendered, 

153 



2 EUGENE CASSERLY. 

and, for the time, disturbed some of the most important balances 
of the Constitution." 

To the general measures of Reconstruction Mr. Casserly pre- 
sented an opposition stern, uncompromising, and invariable, and 
every step encountered his persistent hostility. On the question 
of Georgia's being required, previous to reinstatement, to ratify 
the Fifteenth Amendment, he said : 

What has Congress to do with the ratification by the States ? The function 
of Congress is ended when it proposes. It has nothing else to do with the sub- 
ject ; just as the function of the President is ended, in appointing to office, wlien 
he proposes a name to you. Suppose he should surround this Chamber with an 
armed force, and forbid you to go out for meat, driuk, candle-light, or fire until 
you had agreed to his nominee, would that l>e a valid confii'ination ? Would 
that be an act of ratification which would bind any one ? Would it bind this 
body any longer than until the external force was removed? That is entirely 
too plain for argument. Therefore I say that the coercion which, by the decla- 
rations of Senators, is to be exerted upon Georgia, whether it be expressed in 
the bill or omitted from it, is coercion that invalidates all ratifications which 
have in any substantial or material degree been aflfectcd by that coercion. 

Mr. Casserly favored the repeal of the Income Tax, insisting that 
the tax had outlived its time by at least two years, and that by its 
repeal the Senate would be doing a good work even if it were the 
only act of the present session. We present one more extract from 
the numerous speeches of Mr. Casserly, in which he evinces that, 
while a firm and consistent Democrat, he is capable of commending 
what he deems to be good, though the policy of a Republican ad- 
ministration. In the commencement of his speech on the Indian 
Appropriation Bill he remarked as follows : 

The administration, in the assertion of an undoubted power, has seen fit to 
inaugurate a new policy in respect to Indian aflairs. The distinguishing ele- 
ment of that policy is that it proposes, by means of a board of benevolent men, 
empl ying peaceful measures, to bring the Indian tribes of the plain under the 
humanizing influences of Christian civilization. Can any object be more noble? 
Can any be more lionorable to the country ? Looking at it in the lowest point 
of view, as a financial question, is any course so likely to turn out advanta- 
geously ? Is it not worth a trial ? I say with all my heart, Let the new policy 
be tried. I would not place the least obstruction in the way. I would not even 
speak too strongly of the many discouragements which our experience in the 
past may well suggest. 

154 






^^ 



REUBEN E. FENTOK. 




P 

i. 



'EUBEN E. FENTON was born in Carroll, Chautauqua 
County, New York, July 4, 1819. His father was a na- 
tive of New Hampshire, but the family was of Connecticut 
origin and furnished its share of soldiers, who did good 
service during the Revolutionary War. 

His opportunities for acquiring an education were limited to the 
common schools, and a few terms in neighboring academies. He 
read law one year, not with the view of going into the profession, 
but for the purpose of obtaining knowledge which would be useful 
to him in whatever business he might engage. 

At the age of twenty he entered into mercantile business with 
limited means at his command, but with an energy and industry 
which soon made him successful. He soon engaged in the lumber 
trade as auxiliary to his mercantile pursuits. He was very pros- 
perous, and in a few years lumbering became his principal busi- 
ness. So enei'getically and skillfully did he ply this pursuit that 
he soon enjoyed the reputation of being the most successful lum- 
berman on the Alleghany and Ohio rivers. 

The first ofiice held by Mr. Fenton was the Supervisorship of 
his native town, to which he was elected in 1843. He held the 
oflBce eight years, during three of which he was Chairman of the 
Board, although the majority were Whigs, while he was a Demo- 
crat. In 1849 he was a candidate for the Assembly, and came 
within twenty-one votes of being elected, although the successful 
candidate was one of the most popular men in the district, which 
was strongly Whig. 

In 1852 he was a candidate for Representative in Congress, and 
was elected by fifty-two majority, although his opponents had 
counted on carrying the district by at least three thoxisand ma- 
jority. He took his seat in a house in which the Democrats out- 

155 



2 REUBEN E. FENTON. 

numbered their opponents by about two to one. Just then occurred 
one of tlie most memorable events in the legislative history of this 
country, the proposal by Mr. Douglas of a bill to repeal the Mis- 
souri Compromise. Mr. Fenton, with Nathaniel P. Banks and 
others of the younger Democrats, strenuously opposed tliis proposi- 
tion, but it passed the House by a vote of 113 to 100. and became 
a law. A breach was thus made in the Democratic ranks which 
was never healed. Mr. Fenton, with such conspicuous Democrats 
as Preston King and George Opdyke, was after that identified 
with the Kepublicans. 

In 1854 Mr. Fenton did not consent to be a candidate for re- 
election until the Saturday before the election, and the Know 
Nothings carried his district by a considerable majority against 
him. In 1856 he was a candidate on the Fremont ticket and was 
elected, and was re-elected by large and generally increasing ma- 
jorities until 1864, when he was nominated for Governor. 

Mr. Fenton's career of ten years in Congress was marked by 
much that was useful to his constituents and tiie country. With 
humane and patriotic care he watched the interests of the soldiers 
of 1812, and shortly after entering Congress he introduced a bill 
providing for the payment of certain just claims due them. He 
continued to urge this measure upon the attention of Congress, and 
finally, on the 30th of May, 1860, had the satisfaction to witness 
its passage in the House. He held a prominent place on several 
leading Committees, and discharged the duties which thus devolved 
upon him in a most successful manner. He delivered able and 
effective speeches against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
Act, and in opposition to the policy of the Democratic party with 
regard to Kansas, and in favor of a cheap postal system, the bill to 
extend invalid pensions, for the improvement of rivers and liarbors, 
the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and other important subjects. 

In Congress Mr. Fenton gave his constant and efficient support 

to the government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. He 

voted steadily for taxes, loans, levies, drafts, and for the policy of 

eniancipation. 

' 156 



REUBEN E. FENTON. 3 

As early as the fall of 1862 Mr. Fenton's name was favorably 
mentioned in connection with the office of Governor of New York, 
but upon the presentation of the name of General Wadsworth he 
promptly withdrew from the canvass, and gave his warmest sup- 
port to the patriot soldiei-. Two years later Mr. fen ton received 
tlie nomination, and was elected Governor by a majority consider- 
ably larger than that of Mr. Lincoln in New York. 

Entering upon his ailministration as Governor at a most trying 
period in the progress of the war, Mr. Fenton found exercise for 
all his industry and ability as an executive officer. He was prompt 
to reward merit, and skillful to harmonize differences which threat- 
ened injury to military organizations in the Meld. 

His judicious course in the administration of public affairs met 
with much approval and created strong public confidence. At the 
close of the first year of his service as Governor, Moses H. Grinnell, 
Peter Cooper, and many other prominent citizens of New York, 
addressed him a letter of thanks, promising him their hearty co- 
operation and suppoi't in his efforts to meliorate the condition of 
the metropolis. A few months later, when he was in New York, 
city, he was waited upon in person by thousands of leading citi- 
zens, who gave him sincere expressions of their warm approbation. 
The New York Tribune referred to this remarkable demonstration 
as a proper recognition of official worth and integrity, saying, 
" This hearty welcome sprang from a generous and enduring remem- 
brance of the protection afforded to our municipal rights and fran- 
chises in his judicious exercise of the veto power." His vetoes of 
various bills which would have deprived the city of valuable fran- 
chises without compensating advantages proved so acceptable to 
the Board of Supervisors of New York County that they passed a 
resolution tendering thanks to the Governor, and congratulating 
the people of the State " in having an Executive who possesses the 
vigilance and fearlessness necessary to correct the errors of hasty 
and imperfect legislation." 

Mr. Fenton's course as Governor during his first term htul been 
such as to secure for him the unqualified ai)[)roval of his i):n-ty. 

157 



4 REUBEN E. PENTON. 

He had stimulated volunteering, and had relieved New York from 
a large portion of the dreaded burden of the draft. He had done 
much to originate a financial system which rendered the credit of 
the State secure, and furnished the means to supply the demands 
of war without being felt as oppressive. He had sought to foster 
all the material interests of the Commonwealth, and had reluctantly 
interposed to the defeat of needed enterprises when their aid would 
render the burden of taxation onerous, and awaited a more favor- 
able opportunity to join in giving them necessary aid. He was 
vigilant in his attention to the commercial wants of the State, and 
promoted its prosperity by every means within his reach as its 
chief Executive. 

So successful and popular had been the administration of Gov- 
ernor Fenton that the Eepublican State Convention of 1866 re- 
nominated him by acclamation, and he was elected by a majority 
of five thousand larger than was given him for his first term. 

In his messages to the Legislature Governor Fenton advised a 
reduction of the number of items in the tax lists, and a re-adjust- 
ment of the assessment laws, in order that every source of wealth 
might bear its just proportion of burden. He took strong ground 
in defense of the inviolate maintenance of the national faith. He 
eloquently maintained the rights of the freedmen, in consideration 
of their manhood and loyalty, to protection through law, and to 
the elective franchise. 

The claims of Govei-nor Fenton to receive the Republican nom- 
ination for the Yice-Presidency were strongly urged upon the 
Chicago Convention of 1868. The Republican State Convention 
held at Syracuse February 5, 1868, unanimously adopted a resolu- 
tion that " Reuben E. Fenton is the first choice of the Republican 
party in this State for the ofiice of Vice-President." 

Having been elected to the Senate of the United States, Mr. 

Fenton took his seat in that body on the 4th of March, 1869, for 

tlie term ending in 1875. During the Forty-first Congress he 

served on the Conunittee on Finance and the Committee on the 

Pacific Railroad. 

158 





'Cu■y-^^^_y(^-^.t^^ \) 



J. W. FLAB"AGA1^. 




W. FLANAGAN was born in Albemarle County, Vir- 
ginia, September 7, 1805. He enjoyed in early youth 
the privileges of a common education, and when but eleven 
years of age removed to Kentucky, settling first in Mad- 
ison County, and afterward in the County of Breckenridge. 

Mr. Flanagan engaged in early life in the mercantile business, 
in which he continued till 1843, when he removed to Texas, mak- 
ing his permanent residence in the County of Eusk. Here he 
engaged in planting, at the same time giving attention to law 
studies, which indeed he had begun to do previously to his removal 
from Kentucky. He was admitted to the bar in 1845, and, in con- 
nection with his business as a planter, has continued the practice 
of the profession of law ever since. In this he has been quite fortu- 
nate, having in a brief time obtained an extensive practice, in the 
course of which he has been engaged, either as associate or oppo- 
nent, with many of the first lawyers of the State. 

From a boy, Mr. Flanagan was politically in sympathy with the 
" Old Line Whigs," naming, as he has said, " a son for Clay, one 
for Webster, and one for the great Houston." While in Ken- 
tucky he was for several years a justice of the peace, and one of 
the county judges of the County of Breckenridge; and, after 
removing to Texas, he was in 1851 elected to the State Legisla- 
ture, serving two sessions in the Lower House, and afterward 
served during two sessions in the Senate. In 1856 he was one of 
the State Electors on the Fillmore presidential ticket, and was a 
member of the State Constitutional Conventions of 1866 and 1868. 
By the latter Convention he was sent as a Delegate to the Congress 
of the United States to aid in the reconstruction of the State of 
Texas ; and was afterward, in 1869, elected Lieutenant Governor, 
and organized the State Senate, over which he presided until his 

159 



2 J. W. FLANAGAN. 

election, in February, 1870,. as a Republican, to the United States 
Senate, taking his seat in that body on the 31st of March following. 

Mr. Flanagan, though a large slave-holder, always adhered un- 
flinchingly to the Union, and was one of the ten out of four hun- 
dred and eighty-live who cast his vote against secession ; and he re- 
cords with pleasure that a son and a son-in-law were also of the ten. 

Mr. Flanagan is one of the modest and prudent men of the 
Senate ; while, at the same time, in bis remarks before that body 
he gives evidence of a lai'ge share of independence of thought, as 
well as of much good sense. One of the most elaborate of his 
speeches in the Forty-first Congress was that on the abolition of 
tlie franking privilege, delivered on the 9th of June, a few weeks 
after entering the Senate. In this speech he took very decided 
ground against this bill. He considered the franking privilege a 
privilege not only to those who possessed it, but also to their con- 
stituents, and a public advantage. He admitted its abuse, but 
contended that the benefits arising from it much overbalanced the 
evils; and this he endeavored to illustrate by alluding to the infor- 
mation scattered broadcast over the country by the use of the 
frank, which he was inclined to elevate to the rank of an educator 
of the people. He said : 

If I preferred darkness rather than light, I would vote to abolish the franls- 
ing privilege. But I am unqualifiedly for education. I want education broad- 
cast throughout the Union. I want to educate the boys and the little girls. I 
want to be educated myself. * * * I'desire to be able at all times to be the 
instrument to send knowledge and information to the gi'eat State of Texas, 
which I have the honor, in part, to represent. * * * Let information be spread 
abroad in every sense of the word. Our people are a reading people ; and I 
am all anxiety that they should be enabled to have all the documents that 
emanate from the Congress of the United States, or anything that may come 
into the possession of the representatives of the people at large. * * * As a 
matter of course, bad documents will occasionally get among the people under 
this privilege ; but I am clearly of the opinion that if proper documents had 
been spread broadcast throughout the South at the proper period previous to 
the war, the people thereby obtaining proper light on their relations to the 
Government, the Rebellion would not have gone on as it did. 

Such were some of the sentiments urged by the Senator, and 

such may be deemed a specimen of his ordinarv style. 

IGO 





'.=2^<l^J^i-^^^4-^^ 



ABIJAH GILBERT. 



"Sj^^'BIJAH gilbert is a native of Gilbertsville, Otsego 
^^^^^ County, New York. He was the eldest of a tamily of 
"^h^Ajl^ eighteen children born to a father who was a man of 
remarkable energy, great force of character, and rare 
integrity. He was a strict Presbyterian, and reared his family in 
accordance with his high notions of Christian precept and practice. 
The duty of implicit obedience was early learned by every member 
of his numerous household. So carefully did they heed the maxims 
of a wise father that all of them who lived to maturity became 
wealthy and influential citizens. 

Mr. Gilbert entered Hamilton College as a student ; but applica- 
tion to study developed symptoms of consumption, and he was 
compelled to abandon his plans for literary and professional pur- 
suits. He then went into a store as clerk, and, finding the employ- 
ment conducive to his health, he entered with much energy and 
ability into mercantile pursuits. He greatly extended his opera- 
tions, with head-quarters in New York city, and branch establish- 
ments in various parts of the country. He was very prosperous in 
his commercial undertakings, and while yet in middle life had 
secured an ample fortune. 

At this point, such is the spirit of the age, most men would have 
increased their efforts, and labored with greater zeal to swell their 
already.more than sufficient fortunes; but Mr. Gilbert had other 
and higher aims. He wisely determined to enjoj' his wealth, by 
making it of service to himself and his fellow-men. He retired 
from active business pursuits, expecting to find some better way of 
employing his time and money than simply in amassing more. 

Opportunities were not long wanting. The climate of New York 
being unfavorable to the health of his family, Mr. Gilbert deter- 
mined to settle in Florida. He purchased a handsome place near 

161 



ABIJAH GILBERT. 



the ancient city of St. Augustine, the beauties of which he de- 
veloped by a judicious outlay of money and the exercise of a culti- 
vated taste. But it was not destined that he should spend his time 
in devotion to rural pleasures and pursuits. Citizenship in Florida, 
in its transition state, brought with it new duties and responsibilities. 

In early life Mr. Gilbert had been a Whig, but after the demise 
of tiie old party which had so long claimed his fealty he became 
an ardent Republican. The cares of business, however, had pre- 
vented him from actively participating in politics, and in the North 
there were so many competent as well as willing to do political 
work and hold the offices that Mr. Gilbert had gladly stood aloof 
In Florida, however, affairs were different. A large portion of the 
population had just been released from a slavery which had left 
them poor both in money and in intellectual resources. With un- 
exampled magnanimity the Government had come out of the war 
leaving its enemies rich, and its friends in the South abjectly poor. 

A political campaign came on in Florida involving the whole 
question of Reconstruction and the future well-being of the State ; 
but the party friendly to the Government had no money to prose- 
cute a canvass, and take the first steps necessary to a successful 
issue. At this juncture Mr. Gilbert, without even visiting the 
Capital or making the acquaintance of politicians, nearly all the 
candidates being unknown to him, quietly furnished the money 
necessary to conduct the canvass. Speakers went to all parts of the 
State at his expense, the newly enfranchised people were enlight- 
ened as to their rights and duties, and the State by a large majority 
was carried for the Republicans. 

Mr. Gilbert refused to share any of the honors or emoluments 
resulting from the victory. Tlie Republican Legislature would 
gladly have elected him to a seat in the United States Senate on 
the readmission of the State, but he declined the honor. The 
service of Senator Welch, who drew the short term, expiring March 
4, 1869, Mr. Gilbert was prevailed upon to allow his name to be 
used for the succession, and he was elected by more than a full 
party vote for the Senatorial term ending March 3, 1875. 

162 • 



WILLIAM T. HAMILTON. 



^^V^ILLIAM T. HAMILTON" was born in Washington 
ijPmJ County, Maryland, September 8, 1820. His parents died 
when he was quite young, and he was adopted by his maternal 
uncles, three of the oldest citizens of Hagerstown. His education, 
commenced in the common schools, and continued at the Hagers- 
town Academy, was completed at Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, 
Pennsylvania. 

Upon his return to Hagerstown he studied law under Hon. John 
Thompson Mason, and was admitted to the bar of Washington 
County in 1845. He devoted himself with energy to his profession, 
in which he rose to a proud and flattering eminence. " In a pro- 
fessional point of view," says a leading journal, " he is one of the 
ablest and most successful lawyers in Maryland, and his social 
standing is high and unsullied." 

In politics from the first he was a Democrat, and as such was 
elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1846, after a close 
and exciting contest. In 1847 he was again nominated on tbe 
Democratic ticket for the same position, and although he was largely 
ahead of his ticket, was defeated^the Whigs having that year car- 
ried the county. In the Presidential contest of 1848 he was a 
candidate for Presidential elector on the Cass ticket. In 1849 he 
received from the Democratic party his first nomination to Con- 
gress, and was elected in a close and vei-y animated contest, 
although the district had the year before given a large majority 
for General Taylor. The absorbing issue of the day in the district 
was the tariff. Mr. Hamilton advocated the Democratic principle 
of duties for revenue, and was elected upon that issue. 

During his first term in Congress Mr. Hamilton gave a steady 

163 



a 



2 WILLIAM T. HAMILTON. 

support to the compromise measures of 1850, introduced by Mr. 
Clay. In 1851 he was re-elected to Congress for his second term. 
In 1853 Mr. Hamilton desired to withdraw from public life, and 
declined to be a candidate, but at the urgent instance of prominent 
gentlemen throughout the Congressional district, he was for the 
third time nominated by the regular Democracy, and was again 
elected over the Hon. Francis Thomas, who ran as an independent 
candidate against him. This was the most exciting political con- 
test ever waged in the district, and Mr. Hamilton was elected by 
upward of one thousand majority. In Congress he gave consist- 
ent and able support to the administration of President Pierce, and 
served faithfully and creditably upon several important commit- 
tees. In 1855 he was again nominated for Representative in Con- 
gress, but was this time defeated. From that time to the adoption 
of the present Constitution of Maryland he persistently declined 
all nominations for office— refusing to be a candidate for Governor 
in 1861, although urgently solicited by his party friends. 

His long and honorable prominence in State and national poli- 
tics singled him out as the candidate of his party for the United 
States Senate, and he was elected to that body, in which he took 
his seat March 4, 1869, for the term ending in 1875. He was as- 
signed to service on the Cominittes on Patents, Public Buildings 
and Grounds, and Mines and Mining. Although not a frequent 
speaker, he is one of the most earnest and effective debaters on the 
Democratic side of the Senate. He goes straight to his purpose, 
without indirection. Although exceedingly sober in his demeanor, 
he sometimes uses terms which give a glow of humor to the dry 
routine of Senatorial debate. His opposition to the measures of 
the Republican majority is marked by a frankness which is char- 
acteristic of reasonable and generous antagonism. 



164 





Cy. o^^-^-^^*'^ 



^^</ 



;enator krom v 



JOH]^ F. LEWIS. 




■'^'#^OHN F. LEWIS was born near Port Eepublic, in the 
%^ County of Rockingham, Va., March 1, 1818. His name 
and lineage are of Revolutionary fame. His paternal great 
grandfather, Thomas Lewis, was the elder bi'other of An- 
drew Lewis, whose imposing statue is among the group, with 
Henry, and Jefferson, and Mason, around the "Washington monu- 
ment in Richmond, Va., and whose name is the synonym of all 
that is noble and chivalric in human character. His maternal 
great grandfather (his father and mother being cousins) was that 
Charles Lewis who is so frequently mentioned in Virginia history 
for his daring in the Indian warfare of that early period, and who 
was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant. His bloody clothes, 
brought by a soldier, conveyed the first news his wife had of his 
death. 

His father. General Samuel H. Lewis, was, during his whole 
mature life, a prominent citizen of Virginia, profoundly respected 
by men of all parties, and whose sterling moral and religious char- 
acter made him the beloved friend of Bishops Meade and Cobbs. 
The old veteran, while exceedingly genial among his especial 
friends, was a man remarkable for his strict religious observances, 
for his stern deportment in the presence of frivolity, particularly if 
it savored of irreligion, and for his iron will and irreproachable 
integrity as a public officer ; yet in his latter days he was as tender 
as a woman in the manifestation of his religious feelings and con- 
victions, and always wept when speaking of his two devoted friends, 
Bishop Meade and Bishop Cobbs. The name of General Samuel 
H. Lewis is dear to the Church in Virginia, in whose councils he 
was so long a ruling spirit. 

His son, the subject of this sketch, is heir to many of his traits 

•165 



2 JOHN F. LEWIS. 

of character. John F. Lewis while a boy was noted for his reck- 
less bravery, his impulsive denunciation of wronoj, and his utter 
disregard of public opinion when he conceived it to be in error. 
These traits of character, belonging essentially to the Lewis family, 
coupled with his old anti-democratic proclivities and principles, 
brought him to the position he now occupies with such unmistakable 
advantage to his State, and with such genuine honesty of purpose. 

Born to a farmer's life, and living ,in the very stronghold of 
democracy, the famous " tenth legion," as it is still called in Vir- 
ginia, he of course saw but little of public life until in 1861 he was 
elected to the Convention which attempted to withdraw Virginia 
from the Union. His county, although democratic, was opposed 
to its party leaders on this point ; it was thoroughly Union in sen- 
timent, and elected John F. Lewis for his known character and 
principles. His county, however, during the sitting of the Conven- 
tion, changed. Pleaded with and inflamed by a hundred stump 
speakers, it was persuaded to instruct its delegates in the Conven- 
tion to vote for secession ; but John F. Lewis, like a rock in the 
midst of tlie furious waves, was immovable. He sent back word 
to his constituents that " they had elected him as a Union man — 
they had sent him there to vote against secession — and wliile some 
assassins might kill him, there was no power on earth that could 
make him vote for that ordinance ;" and he never did. 

None but those who were present at the time can realize the 
intense excitement that agitated Richmond for the six or seven 
days before the ordinance of secession was passed. Another con- 
vention had been secretly called, and had assembled there, com- 
posed of the most prominent men in Eastern Virginia, and for the 
avowed deliberate and determined purpose of raising the war flag 
should the Constitutional Convention fail to pass the ordinance. 
It assembled daily, and was a standing threat to the Unionists to 
drive them from the capital and inaugurate civil war. 

Many of the best and staunchest Union men gave way to the 
pressure, and signed the ordinance. Samuel M'Dowel More was 
buraed in effigy ; Jubal A. Early was threatened with mob law ; 

166 



JOHN F. LEWIS. 3 

yet More and Early, fearing the resnlts, yielded to the overwhelm- 
ing excitement. Carlile and Willey fled from the city, and John 
F. Lewis was left — not to stem the torrent, for no one man could 
have done that, but to remain at his post and be true to the last. 
A hundred times that ordinance was thrust in his face, and the 
demand made upon him to sign it; but he invariably replied, " 1 
will die first." 

He stood by when his colleague, Colonel Gray, after long per- 
suasion and many threats, was writing his name to it, and, grinding 
his teeth in anger, he exclaimed, " Never mind. Colonel, you need 
not be so particular about writing your name, for the time is com- 
ing when you will wish it blotted out ! " A prominent seces- 
sionist, who was standing by and holding the paper for Colonel 
Gray to sign, angrily replied, " Lewis, I expect to see you hanged 
yet ! " " And I," retorted the indomitable Unionist, " and I ex- 
pect to see the time when all such traitors as you are will be 
hanged ! " That he was not killed seemed almost a miracle. 

When the deed was done, and the last hope of saving his State 
was gone, he returned to his home, and during the whole war was 
an outspoken opponent of the Confederacy, and a warm and ardent 
friend to the American Union. His truth, his integrity, his hon- 
esty of purpose were so well known and so well appreciated that 
they seemed to be a shield to his open and often reckless Union 
utterances; and while others were imprisoned or shot down on the 
roadside, he was spared, and spared to save his State from the in- 
ternal strife which to-day retards the happiness and prosperity of 
many of the more Southern States. In 1869 he was elected Lieu- 
tenant Governor on the ticket with Gilbert C. Walker, both gen- 
tlemen rimning as Republicans, and in Ifovember of that year he 
was elected to the United States Senate. 

Mr. Lewis married the youngest daughter of the great Virginia 
representative, Daniel Sheffy, and in their beautiful home on the 
banks of the Shenandoah, surrounded by their sons and daugh- 
ters, they constitute one of the most hospitable families in " Old 

Virginia." 

*" 167 



4: JOHN p. LEWIS. 

In the Senate, though little given to speech making, Mr. Lewis 
is a most active and efBcient member. After serving as a member 
of several important committees, he was, at tlie organization of the 
Senate for the Forty-third Congress, made Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia. 

In the early part of 1872 he introduced a bill in the Senate, 
which afterward became a law, saving to the bankrupt of Virginia 
and several other Southern States $2,000 and upward. The Court 
of Appeals of Virginia and Hon. Alexander Eives, United States 
District Judge, declared it unconstitutional. At the commence- 
ment of the third session of the Forty-second Congress, a bill passed 
the House deckratory of Lewis's bill of 1 872. When the bill was 
sent to the Senate, Senator Lewis labored incessantly until he se- 
cured a favorable report from the Judiciary Committee, and the 
passage of the bill. Senator Pool, a member of the Judiciary 
Committee, in a recently published letter, thus refers to the in- 
fluence by which the bill became a hiw : " Senator Lewis was far 
more zealous and active in the matter than any other Senator. 
Always earnest and persistent, especially in whatever pertains to 
the interest of the people in his own State, he was pre-eminently 
so in this matter. I have never known a Senator to urge any 
measure more strenuously and earneslly than he did this, not only 
■while pending in' the Senate, but during the time the ajjproval of 
the President was in doubt. Certainly no one deserves more 
credit than he does for the success of the measure after it left the 
House of Representatives. I take no part in any contest for credit 
in securing the passage of this measure, so humane and beneficent 
to our people in the Southern States. I think it was advocated by 
every Senator and Representative from the South; but Senator 
Lewis and the Repi'esentatives from Virginia pressed it with espe- 
cial earnestness and activity." 

With sterling common sense, great industry, and unbending in- 

tewrity Mr. Lewis has rendered service in the Senate whicli is as 

useful to his State and country as it is honorable to himself. 

168 




~'*"-W'A5i'«J-»B«iW»»*'' ' 




' A f-. 



I^OJJP 



DA1«^IEL D. PEATT. 




|ANIEL D. PEATT was born in Palermo, Maine, October 
26, 1813. His father emigrated to central New York 
''■' wlien the subject of this sketch was but a year old. The 
son of a country physician, he was raised on a farm, and 
inured to tlie hardy pursuits of country life. He graduated at 
Hamilton College in 1831, and in the year following removed to 
Indiana. He first applied himself to school-teaching in Lawrence- 
burgh, and was subsequently for a few months Principal of a 
seminary in Rising Sun. Having engaged in the occupation of 
teacher to obtain the means of prosecuting the study of the law, at 
the end of a year he resigned his position, to the great regret of 
both patrons and pupils, and went to Indianapolis, where he 
entered tlie law office of Calvin Fletcher. When his school earn- 
ings were expended he supported himself by odd jobs of writing 
during the legislative sessions, assisting in the office of tlie Secre- 
tary of State. He was subsequently appointed Quartermaster- 
General by Governor Noble, with a salary of fifty dollars a year. 
In March, 1836, he removed to Logansport, where he has since 
resided. At that time this was a village of about eight hundred 
inhabitants, afibrding but little business for lawyers. Mr. Pratt's 
earnings for the first year amounted to but three or four hundred 
dollars ; but his business increased by degrees, and, journeying on 
horseback from one county to another during the sessions of Court, 
he practiced law through most of the northern half of the State, 
lie devoted himself closely to his profession, and was soon 
regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in the State. 

Mr. Pratt was a Whig during the life-time of that party, and 
took a deep interest in its success. He was always ready to 

169 



2 DANIEL D. PRATT. 

advocate its cause or speak in its defense, but rather declined than 
sought its honors. Devoted to his profession, he had very little 
aspiration for political preferment ; but in 1847, having been 
nominated for Congress by his party, he canvassed a district 
embracing nearly all the State lying north of the Wabash River, 
but was defeated by about four hundred majority. The next year, 
being a candidate for Presidential Elector, he canvassed the same 
district with Dr. Fitch, afterward United States Senator. In 1856 
he was again a candidate for Elector, and made a canvass in the 
interest of the Fremont ticket. 

Mr. Pratt was several times a member of the State Legislature, 
accepting the position not from any desire to occupy political 
place, but at the instance of personal friends of all parties who 
desired the enactment of good laws, and knew that he was well 
qnalified for such a duty. The Whig, and afterward the Repub- 
lican, party would have given him the nomination for Governor 
on more than one occasion, but he always discouraged any move- 
ment in that direction. 

He was elected a Representative to the Forty-first Congress by 
a majority of 2,287, but before taking his seat was elected by the 
Legislature of Indiana to the United States Senate as a Repub- 
lican, to succeed Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, Democrat, for the 
term of six years ending March 3, 1875. 

Taking his seat in the Senate at the opening of the Forty-first 
Congress, Mr. Pratt was appointed a memljer of the Committee on 
Pensions and the Committee on Claims. To his Committee work 
he applied himself with the same assiduity which had marked his 
application to his profession. During the second and third sessions 
of the Forty -first Congress he made no less than seventy-two re- 
ports from his Committees, which were ordered by the Senate to be 
printed. He made able and elaborate speeches on Admiralty 
Jurisdiction, on the Payment of War Losses, and on the Rights of 
the Settlei's on the Public Lands. Tiiis latter speech, though brief, 
was replete with legal and iiistorical learning pertaining to the 

important subject. 

^ •' 170 



DANIEL D. PRATT. 3 

In the last mentioned speech Mr. Pratt illustrated a point under 
consideration by the following reference to his own State : 

" You know, sir, that she is the smallest of the States admitted 
into the Union under the Federal Constitution, except Vermont. 
Tou know that she was not admitted into the family of States until 
1816 ; that her political age is less than that of many Senators 
upon this floor. It was my fortune to settle in that State in an 
early day, and in that part of it where the public surveys had but 
recently been extended. Indeed, the Indian title to largo bodies 
of land was extinguished in my neighborhood after I took up my 
residence there. I know, therefore, from experience the kind of 
men who first acquire a foothold in a new country. I know their 
enterprise and their hardships. I know their wealth of muscle, of 
strength, and courage, and hope. It is almost their only wealth. 

" I have witnessed the laying of the foundations of society. I 
have seen great and wealthy communities grow up from the rude 
beginnings of the pioneer settlers ; and I know, sir, that there is 
no class of men more deserving the fostering care of the Govern- 
ment than these." 

Mr. Pratt also spoke at length on the Ku-Klux outrages in the 
South, and the Constitutional power of Congress to extend protec- 
tion to oppressed Union men there. He gave a graphic picture of 
the causes which led to the disordered state of the South, and a 
startling review of the evidence which proved the prevalence of 
Ku-Klux organizations, and the atrocity of their crimes in all the 
recently rebellious States. As a remedy he was iu favor of making 
" the property holders, the men of means, who live in the localities 
where these outrages occur, responsible for them to the sufferers or 
their survivors ; in other words, to hold their estates liable for the 
loss of life and property through the operations of this Ku-Kluk 
order." 

On the 9th of May, 1872, Mr. Pratt addressed the Senate in 
favor of the Amnesty bill, not in a spirit of charity or as an act of 
justice, but as a " measure of expediency, demanded at this time by 
wise statesmanship." One of his ablest and most elaborate speeches 

171 



i DANIEL D. PRATT. 

was delivered on the 17th of May, 1872, in favor of an act to con- 
tinue in the President of the United States the power of suspending 
the privileges of the writ of habeas oorpus to the end of the next 
session of Congress. None of the speeches called forth by this and 
kindred subjects abound in stronger statement of facts or more 
powerful arguments. He declared that no one had been hurt by 
the denial of this writ of haheas corpus except the criminal men 
whom the courts had been able to punish by reason of its suspen- 
sion. His broad and practical statesmanship, rising above the 
narrow view of the mere technical lawyer, appears most distinctly 
in the closing sentiment: "We shall never do violence to this 
sacred instrument, while in the future, as in the past, we legislate 
to secure to all, and every-where, the blessings of life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness." 

Mr. Pratt's speech of March 2, 1S72, in favor of releasing to the 
State of Indiana certain reclaimed lands, was a masterly argument 
upon the question where the proprietary interest and municipal 
jurisdiction reside, in the case of the beds of our lakes and rivers 
which have been reclaimed after the lands on their banks and 
margins have been sold. This speech, which was successful in se- 
curing the object sought, was but one of many instances to show 
his watchfulness over the interests of his State. 

In personal appearance Mr. Pratt is remarkable, his physical 
proportions approaching the gigantic. His mind and heart are in 
just and full proportion with his body. Having devoted many 
years to the successful pursuit of his profession, his tastes run in 
that direction rather than in the line of politics. It is with hiiu a 
matter of principle faithfully to discharge every duty. There is 
not a man in public life who is more industrious and who daily 
devotes more hours to official duties. In moral character he is 
without a stain, and in all respects is worthy to be mentioned 
among the best statesmen of our day. 

172 




-fT^-^, 



V '^^Knm^R g, cims i^sttW"^ 



,'^'i-l 




HON. CAFili SCHUR/ 

JENOTORFROM MISSOURI 



WH BARNES *(■ 



GAEL SCHUEZ. 




^ AEL SCHUEZ was born at Liblar, a village near Cologne, 
^ on the Eliine, where his father was teacher, on the 2d of 



March, 1829. After having finished the preliminary 
course of studies prescribed by the laws of Prussia, he 
entered the University of Bonn. His studies were soon inter- 
rupted by the outbreak of the revolution of 1848. The political 
state of Germany at that time was unsatisfactory in a high degree. 
The public mind universally demanded constitutional liberty and 
the unity of the country. The contest for these priceless blessings 
was going on in Germany when the French Revolution made chaos 
of continental Western Europe, which promised to be followed by 
the day of liberty and unity. 

No wonder that the German youth supported these movements 
with all the enthusiasm and ardor peculiar to that stage of life. 
Schurz soon joined the circle of devoted friends of liberty which 
collected around Professor Kinkel of Bonn, one of the best known 
poets of bis day. " Unity and liberty " was the watchword of the 
great mass of the people ; the form under which both might be 
secured best was subject to controversy, and dependent in a large 
measure on the course of events. This course proved little satis- 
factory in Germany. The Constitutional Assembly of Germany had 
at last finished a constitution for the country when the great pow- 
ers of Germany and some of the small ones turned against it. At 
this critical moment Southwestern Germany rose in arms for the 
new Constitution, which alone seemed to promise the achievement 
of liberty and unity. Supporters from other parts of Germany 
joined the movement, among them Kinkel and Schurz. The latter 
entered the army, took part in some engagements, and was taken 

173 



2 CARL SCHURZ. 

prisoner at Rastadt, together with his teacher, Kinkel. He, liow- 
ever, found means to escape from the fortress, while his beloved 
teacher was condemned to death, and afterward pardoned to im- 
prisonment for life. Schurz, an exile in Switzerland, determined 
to liberate his friend, who at that time was kept at a prison near 
Berlin. Witii great danger to himself he went to Berlin and ac- 
complished the difficult task. In November, 1850, he landed 
safely with Kinkel in England. At that time his name became 
first known in Germany. 

Schurz remained after that several years in England, a careful 
observer and diligent student of political life and science. Seeing 
no good prospects for the realization of his political ideas in Europe 
he determined to emigrate to America, where he arrived in 1852. 
That year saw the memorable campaign in which the Whigs, 
under General Scott, were so utterly routed that the party broke 
up entirely. The succeeding abolition of the Missouri Compromise 
put an end to the truce which for more than thirty years had kept 
at peace the discordant elements of the Union. The formation of 
the Republican ]iarty was the result, coming out of the seething 
chaldron at that time. To the enthusiastic heart and the keen 
observation of Schurz it was equally clear which party he had to 
join. Thus we find him an ardent Republican from the start. 
From Philadelphia, where he had lived the first years after his 
arrival in America, he had gone to Watertown, Wisconsin, and 
settled there with his family on a farm, all the time, however, 
studying politics and the English language. 

The defeat of the Republican party in 1856 had nothing dis- 
couraging in it, and the organization went on with great zeal and 
vigor. Mr. Schurz at that time had mastered the English lan- 
guage to such a degree that he could undertake to speak publicly 
in English. The power of his logical argumentation and the 
artistic finish of his speeches arrested public attention at once. 
He immediately counted among the most prominent speakers of 
the Republican party. He ran as Lieutenant-Governor on the 
Republican ticket in 1859, and when defeated there he became 

174 



CARL SCHURZ. 3 

clerk of the Legislature. In ISCO he was a member of the Xom- 
inating Convention at Chicago, exerting his influence for the nom- 
ination of Mr. Seward. The convention, in recognition of his tal- 
ents and services, made him a member of the National Republican 
Committee. Thus he was enabled to exert great influence in tlie 
election of Mi". Lincoln, and to be instrumental in shaping public 
opinion and preparing it for the great trial which was in store for the 
nation. When the Rebellion broke out Schurz ofiered to enter the 
army and to fight as a soldier for those principles of liberty and 
union of which he had shown himself such an able champion on the 
tribune. Mr. Lincoln chose to send him as Minister to Spain. The 
defeat of the national arms did not permit him to stay quietly 
at Madrid and to enjoy there the leisure and emoluments of his 
position. In midwinter he crossed the ocean to ofler again his 
services as a soldier for the Union. Mr. Lincoln acceded to his 
wishes, and made him a Brigadier-General of volunteers. He 
participated as such in the battles which the Army of the Potomac 
fought in 1862. The next year he was made Major-General, and 
fought at Chancellorsville and Gettysburgh. In the succeeding 
year he served with his troops in the Southwest. 

After his return to Amerfca Mr. Schurz was on terms of inti- 
macy and friendship with Mr. Lincoln, which position he consci- 
entiously used for promoting the best interests of the country. 
The abolition of slavery as a war measure was a foregone conclu- 
sion with Mr. Schurz when he returned from Europe, and he im- 
proved every opportunity to convince Mr. Lincoln of this. In an 
address in the Cooper Institute in New York he forcibly spoke to 
the same purpose. In 1864 he took an active part in the cam- 
paign for the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. 

When peace came in 1865 he was sent by President Johnson to 

investigate and report on the state of the South. When the able 

report was ready the mind of the President had undergone such a 

change that it was received by him in a very diflferent mood froni 

that in which it had been ordered. 

In the important winter of 1865-66 Mr. Schurz was the chief 

175 



4 CARL SCHURZ. 

correspondent of the "New York Tribune" in Washington, and 
as such aided in fixing the public opinion of the North in respect 
to Johnson's administration. 

In the spring of 1866 he became chief editor of a new Repub- 
lican paper in Detroit, Michigan ; but after a short time exchanged 
this position for that of one of the proprietors and editors of the 
leading German Republican paper of Missouri, the " Westliche 
Post " of St. Louis. 

Missouri, by her geographical position and her history, is one 
of those States of the South which had to be reclaimed first for a 
new life. Mr. Schurz in going there meant to assist in this work 
of national importance. 

In the fall of 1868 the Legislature of Missouri elected him a 
Senator in Congress. He entered the Senate on the -Ith of March, 
1869. Always earnest in his political convictions, he has stood up 
for them and worked for them in the new arena open for him with 
the greatest industry and with entire independence. His endeav- 
ors for civil service reform and for amnesty for the South are well 
known to the country by the speeches he made on them. 

He was appointed a member of the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, and as such took a conspicuous part in opposing tlie an- 
nexation of Dominica. In opposition to this sclieme he delivered, 
on the 28th and 29th of March, 1871, a very elaborate speecli, 
which was heard by a great concourse of visitors, and received at 
its close the unfrequent and disallowed compliment of " applause 
in the galleries." 

On the 20th of September, 1871, Mr. Schurz made a speech in 
the capitol at Nashville, in whicli he pronounced in favor of uni- 
versal amnesty, and recommended the organization of an independ- 
ent party in opposition to Grant's renomination. Tliis speech 
created a profound impression in political circles. The most sig- 
nificant incident connected with it was a letter formally addressed 
to Mr. Sclmrz, signed by several hundred Confederate soldiers, em- 
bracing every grade and rank from privates and non-commissioned 

176 



CARLSOHURZ. • 5 

officers up to major-generals. They expressed tlieir admiration for 
the "patriotic address," their faith in the republic, their respect for 
the flag, and their wish to ally themselves with any party that 
would be animated by the spirit of toleration and a broad patriot- 
ism not bounded by State lines. Mr. Schurz replied in an eloquent 
letter, in which he said that spontaneous expression of such senti- 
ments as their letter contained might " well be called an event of 
great significance in the history of our days." He soon followed 
this advocacy of amnesty on the stump b}' a powerful speech in 
the Senate, advocating the i-eraoval of political disabilities. 

A resolution having been introduced by Mr. Sumner providing 
for an investigation into the sale of arms to French agents during 
the war between France and Germany, Mr. Schurz supported it in 
two speeches, delivered February 20 and February S7, 1872. He 
was requested by the committee appointed under this resolution to 
be present diiring the investigation, and after the presentation of 
their report he made another elaborate speech, (May 31,) in which 
he said " he would not with Mr. Sunmer call it ' a whitewashing 
report,' for," said he, " all the colors of the rainbow are heaped so 
thick and heavy in this document upon truth and reason that the 
whole subject in question disappears under the monstrous accumu- 
lation of paint." 

The course pursued by Mr. Schurz in the Senate led to an open 
breach with the Republican Administration. He took sides with 
the Liberal Republicans, and ably advocated the election of Horace 
Greeley in numerous speeches on the stump, in nearly all parts of 
the country. The first of this series of speeches was delivered in 
St. Louis, July 22, 1872, in which he gave an impressive picture of 
the evils of personal government, and a review of the failures, blun- 
ders, and crimes of the Administration. 

The campaign was characterized by much personal bitterness — 
especially against such prominent Republicans as joined in the Lib- 
eral movement. Mr. Schurz was a most conspicuous mark. The 
New York Times contained a long and labored article full of charges 

against him, to which he replied in the Senate. He closed by sav- 

177 



6 CARLS CHURZ. 

ing : " If attacks should come as tliick as locusts, they will not 
frighten me away from that course which I conscientiously believe 
to be the course of honor, truth, right, and duty." 

The element of resistance is strong in Mr. Schurz. He takes to 
revolution as the most legitimate form of intellectual activity. He 
is a laborious student, and has a high appreciation of culture wher- 
ever seen. He many years ago conceived a high admiration for the 
scholarship of Charles Sumner, and has been his steadfast friend in 
the Senate — the two evidently having a great mutual influence upon 
one another. 

His wife, who is daughter of a Hamburg banker, is one of the 
finest specimens of German women in America. She met Schurz 
in London when he was a poor exile there, living upon remittances 
from home and from correspondence with German journals, and 
sympathized with him and loved him. She is a dark-haired, dark- 
eyed woman, of mild and pleasant countenance. Both are strong 
in their attachment to the German manner and German country. 
They prefer to give their children a German education. 

Mr. Schurz is a man of great boldness of character, backed by the 
finest talents. He is not without humor, but it is of the grim, severe 
quality chiefly exercised in satire. As an orator he is grave and 
epigrammatic. In the Senate he is unequaled in direct, pointed 
attack, and in skillful, graceful vehemence. He displays as much 
familiarity with our language and history as with those of Ger- 
many and France. 

He is in the prime of vigorous life. In person he is tall, round- 
shouldered, spare, and graceful. He has a muscular, active, and 
vital frame ; all his movements are quick and vigorous. His face, 
which is long in the nose and jaw, is rather Mephistophelean in 
expression. His hair is of a brownish auburn, his beard is blonde, 
and his eyes a strong gray. He has reached the highest position 
attainable in the United States by a citizen of foreign birth. His 
career, so versatile and so adventurous, is among the most remark- 
able in this country of stirring lives and startling successes. 

178 







■A PENSS^- 



JOHIS" SCOTT. 




'^npT-^^OHN SCOTT was born in Alexandria, Huntingdon Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, July 14, 1824. His ancestry on both 
sides was Scotch-Irish. His father was a Major of volun- 
teers in the War of 1812, and a member of the Twenty- 
first Congress from Pennsylvania. To his son he gave the com- 
mon-school education afforded by his native town, the advantages 
of private teachers of Greek and Latin, and an early introduction 
to practical business life. He soon evinced a talent for public 
speaking, acquiring before his eighteenth year quite a local repu- 
tation among the advocates of the Washingtonian temperance 
movement. Choosing the legal profession, he entered, in 1842, the 
office of Hon. Alexander Thomson, of Chambersburg, Pa.-, and in 
January, 1846, was admitted to the bar. He immediately com- 
menced practice in Huntingdon, Pa., his present residence, was 
appointed Deputy Attorney-General for that county, and held that 
position for several years. He rose rapidly in his profession, and 
soon ranked with the ablest lawyers in the district. In 1851 Mr. 
Scott was appointed a member of the Board of Eevenue Commis- 
sioners, and, although the youngest member, took an active part in 
its proceedings, serving on its most important committees. As a 
member of the Democratic State Convention in 1852 he led the 
opposition to Mr. Buchanan's nomination for the Presidency, and 
was the author of a vigorous protest against the mode of electing 
delegates favorable to him. Threatened with failing health, he vis- 
ited Europe in 1853, and returned much benefited by his travels. 
In 1854 he was nominated by the Citizens' Convention for the State 
Legislature, and refusing adherence to the " Know Nothings," who 
organized after his nomination, was by them defeated. As soon as 
Mr. Buchanan announced his Kansas policy Mr. Scott took decided 
ground against him. In 1860 he was nominated as a Douwiiis 

179 



2 JOHN SCOTT. 

Democrat for the State Senate, the District being overwhelmingly 
Eepublican. In the following year both parties requested him to 
serve in the House of Representatives, and consenting, he was 
elected without opposition, although his party was largely in the 
minority in the county. He made an attempt to organize the House 
without distinction of party, pledging Pennsylvania to the cordial 
support of the General Government in the suppression of the rebel- 
lion. This the Democratic Caucus declined, and he and other War 
Democrats acted with the Eepublicans in the organization. He 
served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee during the session, 
and declined a re-election. Although not a politician, in the usual 
sense of that term, he participated actively in political campaigns, 
advocating Governor Curtin's election in 1863, and supporting Mr. 
Lincoln for President in 1864. He was elected a Delegate to the 
Eepublican National Convention in 1868, but had his place filled 
by his alternate, being detained in the Supreme Court to argue a 
case involving the constitutionality of a law of the State disfran- 
chising deserters — a question in which political parties took a deep 
interest. 

Taking an active part in the canvass of that year, public atten- 
tion was directed to him as a candidate for the United States Sen- 
ate. When the Legislature met he was elected to succeed Mr. 
Buckalew, and took his seat March 4, 1869. He was assigned to 
the Committees on Claims, Pacific Eailroads, and Naval Aff'airs. 
His senatorial record shows him to be an attentive, industrious, 
and able member of that body. In the last session of this Con- 
gress he was appointed Chairman of the Select Committee to 
investigate the alleged outrages in the Southern States. He first 
spoke in the Senate upon the bill to repeal the " Tenure-of-Ofiice 
Act." He has since spoken in review of Commissioner Wells's 
Eeport ; upon the admission of Virginia to representation ; upon 
the eligibility of Mr. Eevels and General Ames to seats in the Sen- 
ate ; upon the Funding Bill ; in advocacy of the repeal of the 
Income Tax, and upon other subjects. His speeches are generally 

brief, sensible, and without attempt at ornament. 

180 



JOHN SCOTT. 3 

Mr. Scott opposed the rej>eal of the Civil Tenure Act : " We 
have," said he, " this principle given to us now, a most valu- 
able principle in the administration of this Government, which 
prevents the President from exerting a power which in the 
hands of a bad man, with the immense patronage at his command, 
would be the absolute control of all the offices. Shall we surrender 
it? I say no. Incorporate it in whatever legislation you ma^' 
have, and that principle is of more importance to us for the future 
of this country than any mere question of temporary convenience 
about men either getting into office or getting out of office." 

One of Mr. Scott's best speeches on the floor of the Senate was 
his Memorial Address on the life and character of his friend, 
Hon. John Covode, (Representative from the Twelfth Congres- 
sional District of Pennsylvania,) delivered February 10, 1871. 
Referring to the traits of character, public and private, which dis- 
tinguished the deceased, he said : 

He was not a man of learning; he was a man of intellect. It was not that 
cultivated intellect which often leads men to be mere thinkers, whose thoughts 
end in dreams and are sometimes afterward caught up and made j)ractical by 
the earnest workers of the world. His was that busy, practical brain which 
made him a man of action, a type of the untiring working men who are making 
thcii' mark upon this active century, who study their fellow-men more tlian 
books, and who are indispensable to the earnest thinkers of the age. Earnest 
thinkers and earnest workers need each other. Earnest thought is earnest 
work in one sense, but not in all senses. The earnest thought of the com- 
mander who plans a campaign or m.ips out a battle-field may be earnest work 
for him ; but it is not that kind of earnest work which carries forts and routs 
opposing armies. The men who do this kind of earnest work should live in 
history, as well as those who plan it and direct it to be done. 

I saw recently a large painting of the battle of Gettysburg, ordered by the 
State of Pennsylvania. It represents the pinch of the fight — the repulse of 
Pickett's charge. Its central figure is a private Union soldier — tall, muscular, 
with all the energy of determined action apparent in every feature and in 
every limb — vrith a musket clenched frantically in his hands, and drawn to 
strike an assailant. He seems to be the real leader of all who are behind him. 
The commanding generals are in the dim distance. I thought, as I looked 
upon it, that the men of action are, in our day, coming to the front. ... If a 
man's life has not impressed his fellow-men his funeral will not. But his 
funeral may tell how his life has impressed them; and, standing there, no man 
could doubt the sincerity of the sorrow which his death had occasioned among 
those who knew him best. A bad man could not be so mourned. 

ISl 



4 JOHN SCOTT. 

Having introduced an amendment putting tea and coffee on the 
free list, Mr. Scott, in advocating this measure on the 15th of March, 
1872, made a most able and exhaustive speech on the Tariff. He 
presented tlie argument in favor of protection to home manufactures 
witli an elaborate array of facts and figures. Having been placed 
in a position whefe the operation of the disqualifications of the 
Fourteenth Amendment were forced upon his attention, he gave it 
as his opinion, in a speech before the Senate, December 20, 1871, 
that it would be the part of wisdom to remove these disabilities. 

One of Mr. Scott's most distinguishing labors in the Senate was 
his voluminous report— the result of much labor — on the alleged 
outrages in the South. On the 17th of May, 1872, he delivered an 
able and extended speech, based on this report, advocating the ex- 
tension of the Ku-Klux Act. " Others," said he in closing, " may 
hesitate upon this subject, I cannot. Government was instituted 
to protect its citizens, and we shall be derelict to our duty if we 
permit the more than four millions of citizens in the South, against 
whom this conspiracy has been formed, to be subject for a day to 
these great calamities, and subject to them at a time, too, when the 
strongest motives will be operating for the infliction of just such 
outrages as those I have described." 

In the Senate Mr. Scott has fully filled the prediction made by 
the Pittsburgh Gazette at the time of his election : '' Being a lawyer 
of great depth and acute discernment, it may naturally be supposed 
that he will soon take a front rank with the foremost in Congress, 
particularly in questions involving international law, and the interest 
and protection of home manufactures, a subject in which he is well 
informed, and entertains broad and favorable views." 

lu private life he has been an active and leading spirit in all the 
prominent enterprises of his neighborhood. He was an original 
member of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad, gave freely 
of his means, and labored assiduously for the success of the enter- 
prise, and lias lived to see his labors crowned with success. 

182 



JOHN P. STOCKTON. 




^^OHN P. STOCKTON was born in Princeton, New Jer- 
sey, August 2, 1826. His ancestors were distinguished in 
the history of the country. His great-grandfather was one 
of the signei's of the Declaration of Independence. His 
grandfather and his father preceded him in the Senate of the 
United States, the latter having previously won distinction as an 
officer in the navy. 

Tiie subject of this sketch graduated at Princeton College in 
1843. He studied law, was licensed to practice in 1846, and came 
to the bar in 1849. He was appointed by the Legislature of New 
Jersey a commissioner to revise the laws of the State. He was 
subsequently for several years Reporter to the Court of Chancery, 
and published three volumes of equity reports which bear his 
name. He was appointed by President Buchanan Minister Resi- 
dent to Rome, and was recalled at his own request in 1861. He 
then devoted himself to his profession until 1865, when he was 
elected a United States Senator from New Jersey. After he had 
held this position for more than a year his election was declared by 
the Senate to have been informal, and he was unseated. He was 
subsequently again elected to the Senate as a Democrat to succeed 
Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, and took his seat March 4, 
1869. He was assigned to the Committees on Appropriations, 
Naval Affiiirs, and Ventilation. 

Among the early speeches of Mr. Stocktou was a brief address 
against the bill authorizing Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas to 
submit their Constitutions to a vote of the people, amended by the 
requirement to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, and he insisted 

183 



2 JOHN p. STOCKTON. 

that by siieli an enforced ratification that amendment could never 
become a part of tiie Constitution of tlie country. Of the same 
tenor was liis speech pending the bill to promote the reconstruction 
of Georgia. 

In his remarks upon the bill for enforcing the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment he discountenanced that measure as unnecessary, and argued 
that the amendment would enforce itself — that every good citizen 
would see to its enforcement. At the same time, while he thought 
it would be wise to pass no act, he would raise no opposition to a 
fair bill for the purpose specified. 

In connection with the consideration of the Legislative Appro- 
priation Bill came the following interesting remarks from Mr. 
Stockton touching the national capital : 

The Senator from California complains tbat there Is not a public square in 
this city except one which is creditable to show to any stranger, and in saying 
that lie says but the truth ; but why is this so ? It is because gentlemen come 
•iicre, as he does now, and resist appropriations which are necessary to improve 
these grounds and make available the large sums already invested. 

The city of Washington now contains many magnificent buildings which will 
compare with the buildings in many of the old capitals of Europe, and it wants 
nothing in the world but a little proper investment of money at the present 
time to become an ornament to this country, a city of which we may be proud. 
We want the streets jsroperly pavect. We want this investment not for mere 
pleasure grounds to recreate in, as has been said in this debate, but for the 
health of the people ; and in addition to that, in order that all the people of 
the country may feel that proper pride in the capital of the country that they 
ought to feel. 

Gentlemen make themselves prophets, and predict in a solemn way that 
this capital must be moved. I know there are men whose policy and whose 
politics and whose statesmanship consist in moving landmarks. I trust that 
the Senator from California will not join that party. There is no blessing pro- 
nounced on those who move landmarks. I believe in holding on to all the 
landmarks that our fathers have made, and one of the most sacred of those is 
the place where they located this capital. . . . 

:Mr. President, I wish that not only the members of the Legislatvu-es who have 
passed resolutions in favor of moving tlie capital, but all the agitators of tliis 
movement, could stand on the heights of Arlington and watch the setting sun 
reflected from the dome of our Caintol. Let them turn their faces to Mecca 
when they worship ; let them not for;jet .Jerusalem, although they wander in 
strange lands. Let not strength and manhood forget the parent that cherished 
its infancy, but rather let all unite in a permanent determination that at least 
this old landmark shall not be removed. 

184 



ALLEIT G. THUEMAIST. 




^LLEN" G. THUEMAN was bom in Lynchburg, Virginia, 
November 13, 1813. His paternal ancestors for two hun- 
dred years were citizens of Virginia, he being of the sixth 
generation of his family born in the " Old Dominion." 
His paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, serving 
during the war. His mother was daughter of Colonel Nathaniel 
Allen, of North Carolina, nephew and adopted son of Joseph 
Hewes, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
who, as Chairman of the Naval Committee during the first years 
of the Revolution, performed the duties which have since devolved 
on the Secretary of the Navy. 

In 1819 Mr. Thurman removed to Ohio, where he obtained an 
academic education. He studied law with Senator William' Allen 
and Judge Swayne, now a Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. He was admitted to the bar in 1835, and entered 
at once into a large and successful practice. He immediately took 
high rank at the bar, where he was brought into competition with 
lawyers of such ability as Henry Stanbery, Thomas Ewing, and 
Judge Hunter. 

Mr. Thurman never sought, but rather avoided, office. His first 
oflice, that of Representative in the Twenty-ninth Congress, was 
thrust upon him, much against his inclination. He had declined 
to be a candidate, but when absent from the State he was nomi- 
nated, and was elected by nearly four hundred majority in a district 
which had in the previous canvass elected the Whig candidate by 
a majority almost as large. In the Twenty-ninth Congress Mr. 
Thurman was a member of the Judiciarj^ Committee, and. took an 
active part in the proceedings, participating prominently in the 

185 



2 ALLEN G. THURMAN. 

debates of the House. He made effective speeches on the Mexi- 
can War and the Oregon Question, the subjects of overshadowing 
importance in that day. 

Mr. Thurraan declined a re-electiou, and, at the close of a single 
term in Congress, returned to the practice of his profession. In 
the first election under the new Constitution of Ohio in 1851 Mr. 
Thurman was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, running two 
thousand votes ahead of his party in the State, and nine hundred 
aliead in his own county. He was Judge of the Supreme Court 
four yeai's — during the last two years, from 1854 to 1856, serving 
as Chief-Justice. In 1867 Mr. Thurman was the Democratic can- 
didate for Governor of Ohio, and lacked less than three thousand 
votes of being elected, although the Republican majority the year 
before was forty-three thousand in the State. 

The Democratic party having carried the Legislature of Ohio, 
Mr. Thurman was elected a Senator of the United States to suc- 
ceed Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, and took his seat March 4, 1869, 
for the term ending in 1875. He was a member of the Committee 
on the Judiciary, the Committee on Post-Offices, and the Joint 
Select Committee on Retrenchment. 

Mr. Thurman was at once recognized as one of the strong men 
of the Senate, and the leader of his party in that body. He is 
extremely vigilant and faithful — ^watching with careful eye all the 
proceedings — a frequent speaker, ready, clear, persistent, and strong 
in debate; courteous in his bearing, and generally evincing perfect 
candor and respect toward his opponents and their opinions, while, 
with a masterly ability, he asserts and advocates his own views. 

186 



MOEGAN O. HAMILTON. 




'^OEGAN C. HAMILTON" was born in the territory 



now within the limits of Alabama, near Huntsville, 
February 25, 1809. His boyhood was spent in severe 
manual labor, interrupted at rare intervals by brief at- 
tendance at country schools, in which he obtained little more than 
the mere rudiments of education. He obtained a situation in a 
country store, where he gained practical knowledge of business. 

When eighteen years old, being of a stirring and adventurous 
temperament, he naturally fell in with the tide which swept so 
many young men to the far South-west, where Texas was struggling 
for recognition as a republic. Being capable and of good address, 
he attracted the notice of the authorities, and two years after his 
arrival was appointed to a clerkship in the War Department. It 
is proof of his capacity and perseverance, that amid the constantly 
shifting scenes of those days he held this position until April, 1845. 
During the last three of these years he was acting Secretary of 
War. The responsibilities of this position were second to none, 
as the infant republic and nascent State was just then passing 
through its "baptism of fire." 

Entering so early into public life, and having no ordinary capac- 
ities for managing affairs, Mr. Hamilton might have continued to 
be an incumbent of office, and might have reached the highest 
places, but he chose another path. He went into retirement, and 
devoted himself entirely to private business. In this he was very 
successful, acquiring within a few years vast tracts of land and im- 
mense herds of cattle. When the rebellion broke out Mr. Ham- 
ilton refused to take part in the war against the Union. He was 
stern in his denunciation of the secessionists, and bold in declaring 

187 



2 MORGAN C. HAMILTON. 

liimself in favor of the United States, although such proceediug 
was at the peril of his life and property. His very boldness saved 
him, while others, no less true but more moderate in their avowals, 
perished. 

The war over, and the Government having reasserted its author- 
ity, his services were needed to aid in the restoration of law and 
order, and he promptly rendered them. In 1867 he was appointed 
Comptroller of the Treasury of Texas by the commander of the 
Fifth Military District. He was one of the most active and effi- 
cient members of the Convention of 1868, which framed a new 
Constitution for Texas. The State at last being ready for restora- 
tion to representation in Congress, Mr. Hamilton was elected to 
the United States Senate as a Republican. He was admitted to 
his seat March 31, 1870, and was appointed on the committees on 
Indian Affairs, Revolutionary Claims, and the Select Committee on 
the Removal of Political Disabilities. 

He immediately took a prominent part in the discussion and 
proceedings. Soon after his admission he delivered a speech, in 
which he urged that the Government should give protection to the 
only friends and supporters it had in nearly one half of its peopled 
territory. He made the startling statement that " not less than 
ten thousand hearts have ceased to beat, within the limits of the 
late Confederacy, since the surrender of Lee's army, simply because 
they were true to the Government." He showed that the small 
number of arrests and convictions was as " incredible as the very 
large number of homicides committed." 

Mr. Hamilton sympathized with the Liberal Republican move- 
ment, a fact which somewhat modified the tone of his later speeches. 
We iind him, on the 21st of May, 1872, making a speech in the 
Senate against the bill to extend the Xuklux act, which he pro- 
nounced the most objectionable of the legislation enacted for the 
government of tiic Southern States. 

188 



JAMES L. ALCORI^. 




AMES L. ALCORN was born in Golconda, Illinois, 
November 4, 1816. He was taken when a cliild to 
Kentucky, and there grew up to manhood. He was 
educated at Cumberland College in that State, and sub" 
sequently taught school in Jackson, Arkansas. Having been 
offered the position of deputy sheriff of Livingston County, Ken- 
tucky, he returned to that State. Here he soon afterward married, 
studied law, and obtained a license as an attorney. Elected as a 
Whig to the Legislatiire of Kentucky, in 1843, he resigned the 
office of sheriff, and took his seat at Frankfort. At the close of 
the iirst session of the Legislature, putting his family and goods on 
board a fiat-boat, he floated down the Ohio on his way to a new 
home in Mississippi, landing at Delta, in the county of Coahoma. 
Having purchased a small tract of land near the town he placed 
his family upon it, and soon afterward opened an office in Delta 
for the practice of law. 

Mr. Alcorn had been but a few months in Coahoma when he 
was nominated by the Whigs of that county for the Legislature. 
Having been elected, he sat in either the upper or lower house of 
the Legislature of Mississippi for sixteen years of the twenty-six 
that have elapsed since his first election. At Jackson, while a 
member of the Legislature, he made the acquaintance of the accom- 
plished lady who became his second wife. He was nominated by 
the Whigs, in 1854, as their candidate for Governor, but declined. 
He ran for Congress in that year, but failed to overcome the large 
majority of the Democratic party in the disti-ict. In the Presiden- 
tial contest next succeeding he was the Scott elector for the State 
at large. 

In 1861 Mr. Alcorn was elected as a Unionist to the Convention 

189 



2 JAMES L. ALCORN. 

which withdrew the State from the Union. Forced by the hope- 
lessness of the struggle into submission to the fury of secession, 
Mr. Alcorn, with words of protest, cast his lot with his State. 
Appointed on the Military Board with Jefferson Davis and three 
others, he gave his services to the State for eighteen months. 
Finding bis personal relations with the chiefs of the Confederacy 
insuperable obstacles to his usefulness iu the field, he returned to 
his plantation. Here he was captured by a force of Federals from 
Helena, and subsequently was released on parole. At the expira- 
tion of his parole he withdrew with his family within the Con- 
federate lines, and settled for a time on a place belonging to his 
father-in-law in Alabama. While sojourning here he was elected 
to the Legislature of Mississippi. 

At the close of the war Mr. Alcorn returned to his home in Coa- 
homa. He was elected to the Legislature of 1865, and by that 
body was chosen for the long term in the United States Senate, 
the short term being given to that distinguished jui-ist. Judge 
Sharkey. Refused admission by the Senate, Mr. Alcom went 
home and subsequently urged upon his people an acceptance of 
Congressional reconstruction. He declined, however, to join the 
Republicans. On their defeat as proscriptionists, in 1868, he ac- 
cepted overtures from them on condition of their acceptance of a 
liberal platform. After a canvass of great excitement, he carried 
the State as nominee of the Republicans for Governor in 1869, by 
a majority of thirty-eight thousand. He declined the position of 
provisional Governor, offered him by the military commander, on 
the ground that he could not consent to rule over the people under 
an appointment by the military power. Inaugurated in March, 
1870, as Governor of Mississippi, elected by the people, he did 
mucli for the restoration of peace and good-will by a mingled 
policy of conciliation and firmness. Having been elected to the 
Senate for the term ending March 3, 1877, he resigned the execu- 
tive chair on the 30th of November, 1S71, and took his seat as 

United States Senator on the 4th of December following. 

190 



POWELL CLAYTOi^. 




MONG those who accompaTiied William Penn in 1681 
Id" from England, to assist in the peaceful settlement of 
Pennsylvania, was William Clayton, who with his family 
settled in what now is Delaware county of that State. Sixth in 
descen-t from William w-as John Clayton, who married Ann, daugh- 
ter of Captain George Clark, of the British army. To tliem, Au- 
gust 7, 1833, on the same spot that his ancestors for so many years 
had lived, was born Powell Clayton. He spent his youth on the 
paternal farm, whicli he did not leave imtil his twentieth year, 
when he entered the famous Military Academy of Captain Alden 
Partridge, at Bristol, Pennsylvania. Leaving that institution in 
1854, he commenced the studv of civil engineerins at Wilmington, 
Delaware, imder the ausj)ices of Professor Sudler. 

In 1855, Mr. Clayton emigrated to Kansas, where he soon attain- 
ed such professional proficiency and repute as to be chosen, in 1859, 
by the jieople of Leavenworth, engineer and surveyor of that city. 
When Fort Sumter was fired on, the governor of Kansas ordered 
Captain Clayton, with the militia company which he commanded, 
into camp near Fort Leavenworth. When the call was made for 
volunteers by President Lincoln, the First Kansas Lifantiy was 
raised; Powell Clayton being mustered into the United States 
service as captain. May 29, 1861. 

This regiment was immediately ordered to Missouri, and was 
assigned to the command of the lamented Lyon, under whose 
leadership it participated in the battle of Wilson's Creek. The 
gallantry exhibited by Captain Clayton's company, which lost 
forty-nine out of seventy-four men, received oflScial recognition. 
Their commander was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth 
Kansas Cavalry, and, soon after, the colonelcy of the same regi- 
ment was given him. 



2 PO"WBLL CLAYTON. 

Colonel Clayton was ordered to Missouri, and finally joined the 
army of General S. R. Curtis, marching ^nth him to Helena, Ar- 
kansas. The attack made on that city by the confederates, under 
General Holmes, resulted in their disastrous repulse, and prominent 
among the participants in this engagement were the regiments of 
the cavalry brigade commanded by Colonel Clayton. The march 
on Little Rock, Arkansas, by General Steele, which residted in tlie 
capture of that capital, was participated in by Colonel Clayton, and 
shortly afterward he was assigned to the command of Pine Bluif, 
Arkansas. 

On the 25th of October, 1863, General Marraaduke appeared 
before Pine Bluff, and demanded its surrender. Colonel Clayton 
replied that, " if General Marmaduke desired Pine Bluff, he was at 
liberty to attempt its capture." This was followed by a furious 
attack with a force of four thousand men and twelve pieces of 
artillery. Clayton's command comprised six hundred men and 
nine pieces of artillery. He massed his little command in the 
court-house square, and with the aid of the ever-faithful freedmen, 
who had flocked to him by liundreds, he barricaded all the streets 
leading from tlie square with cotton-bales, leaving embrasures, 
from which his artillery swept the streets in every direction. The 
houses between these barricades were filled with sharp-shooters, 
who from the windows commanded all the vacant space in front. 
Tlie enemy frequently charged upon this position without effect, 
and after five hours' hard fiffhtinff, retreated in confusion, leaviuir 
his dead and wounded iq>on the field. 

Shortly after this brilliant victory. Colonel Clayton made a 
movement, auxiliary to General Steele's march on Cauulen, in 
the direction of Monticello, Arkansas. At Mount Elba, on the 
Saline River, he had a combat with the rebel division of General 
Dockery, resiilting in tlie utter defeat of the latter. Colonel Clay- 
ton returned to Pine Bluff with three hundred prisoners, three hun- 
dred horses, sixty wagons, and a confederate paymaster's chest 
containing sixty thousand dollars, as tho substantial evidence of the 
completeness of his victory. These achievements caused President 
Lincolu, in August, 1864, to commission Colimel Clayton as a bri- 

192 



POW ELL CLAY T0:T. 3 

gadier-general. He remained in command of the post of Pine 
Bluff until August, 1865, when he was mustered out of the service. 

Within a few months after the return of peace, General Clayton 
married Miss Ben A. McGraw, the daughter of an old citizen of 
Helena, and settled on a plantation in Jeiiersou county, Arkansas, 
near Pine Bluff. In 1867, the first organization of the Kei>ubli(';ui 
Party in Arkansas was effected, and when, in the same year, the 
question of a constitutional convention was submitted to the peo- 
ple, the first canvass in the State for the Republican Party was 
made by General Clayton. After the formation of a constitutittn, 
he was nominated for governor by the Republican State Convention 
that met at Little Rock, February, 1868. The campaign was very 
spirited, and resulted in the adoption of the State constitution, and 
the triumphant election of General Clayton. 

The inaugural message of the new executive clearly evinced the 
appreciation which he entertained of the public wants. His recom- 
mendations in favor of a sound financial policy, free education for 
the masses, the development of the State's resources by the encou- 
ragement of internal improvements, and the passage of such laws 
as would protect the colored people in the enjoyment of all their 
rights, were promptly acted upon by the Legislature, whose mem- 
bers were unanimously Republican. 

Immediately after the adjournment of the General Assembly, the 
presidential canvass commenced, and its discussion caused the exhi- 
bition of the bad feeling that had been created by the attempt 
to legislate the " Yankee" ideas of free schools and railroads into 
Arkansas. In most of the counties in the State, Republican speak- 
ers were subjected to the most violent personal abuse, and in a 
short time, a system of terrorism was regularly organized, which, 
under the names of the " Ku Klux Klan " and the " Order of the 
White Camelia," sought the intimidation of Republicans in suf- 
ficient numbers to carry the State. A Republican member of Con- 
gress — James Hinds — was assassinated on his way to a Republican 
mass meeting. Two Republican members of the Legislature were 
similarly murdered. In each instance, the peaceable character of 
the victim rendered impossible any but a political cause, as the 

193 



4 POWELL CLAYTON. 

feasoii for the outrage. Meetings of Republicans were dispersed 
by armed men, colored citizens were threatened with death if they 
attended such meetings, while the same fate was threatened white 
Republicans unless they left the State. Officers of the law at- 
tempting its execution were i-esisted, and in many instances 
assailed, while others were killed. Such was the condition of 
Arkansas during the presidential canvass, and from all quarters of 
the State arose a cry for protection. 

On the day following che presidential election, Governor Clayton 
issued his proclau^ation, reciting the outrages that had been com- 
mitted in certain counties, and declaring the latter under martial 
law. In order that the object of the proclamation might be more 
speedily secured, three brigades of State militia were authorized to 
be raised. Although, when this order was issued, the organization 
existed only "on paper," within twenty days thereafter the ranks 
were tilled, and the commands under marching orders. Numerous 
encounters occurred between the militia and the Ku Klux, the 
most serious affi'ay taking place at Centre Point, Sevier county, 
wherein the State troops lost one man killed and three wounded, 
while .the Ku Klux lost eight killed and over twenty wounded and 
captured. AVhile the militia were in active service, they subsisted 
upon the country, giving receipts for whatever was taken, paya- 
ble by the State government, upon proof of the owner's loyalty 
thereto. After four months' service, during which time a large 
number of Ku Klux were arrested, convicted, and executed, the 
force was ordered to the State capital and there mustered out. 

In the mean time, the State Legislature had met, and a law was 
passed contirming Governor Clayton's action in calling out the 
militia, and legalizing whatever had been done by virtue of the 
declaration of martial law. Before the militia had been disbanded. 
Generals Porter and Babcock, of the stafli' of the General-in-Chief 
of the Army, visited Arkansas, to examine into the operations of 
that force, and, after a full investigation, made a report approving 
the governor's course. The effect of the public announcement that 
Arkansas was one of the Southern States where respect to liberty, 
life, and property would be enforced by the strong arm of the law, 

194 



POWELL CLAYTON. 5 

soon attracted attention to its vast mineral and agricultural re- 
sources, and a large immigration commenced pouring into the State. 

The year 1870 witnessed the election in Arkansas for members 
of the Legislature, and such was the efl'ect of Governor Clay- 
ton's administration of the State government upon the public mind 
that the vote for the Legislature showed a majority exceeding 
eight thousand for the Republican nominees. Immediately after 
the meeting of the Legislature in January, 1871, a caucus of the 
Republican members was held, that resulted in the imanimous 
nomination of Governor Clayton for the United States senator- 
ship, and at the elction on January 10, 1871, he was chosen to that 
position on the first ballot, receiving all the votes cast but fourteen. 

Immediately after this election, it became evident that certain 
members of the lower House, elected as Republicans, were in fact 
quasi-Democrats, and five others, were personal enemies of the 
governor. The Lieutenant-Governor, James M. Johnson, had been 
elected as a Republican, but subsequently had opposed the declara- 
tion of martial law and was regarded with great favor by the De- 
mocracy, who claimed that his discharge of the executive duties 
would be in accord with their views. The right of this officer to 
his position had been questioned in 1869, and tlie procedure in the 
nature of a quo warranto, was still undecided when the Legislature 
assembled in 1871. On account of the lack of confidence with which 
the Republicans regarded Lieutenant-Governor Johnson, Governor 
Clayton had promised his own friends that, if the court decided 
in favor of Johnson's right to the lieutenant-governorship, then 
he would not vacate the executive chair. 

The personal enemies of Clayton, and tlie Democracy in the Le- 
gislature, finding that it was certain he would not accept the sena- 
torship in the event of Johnson's retention in office, concocted an 
impeachment of the governoi-, and while Johnson's trial was still 
pending, articles of impeachment were accordingly introduced into 
the lower House, and adopted. The object of this move was to 
secure the suspension of Governor Clayton from office, the duties 
of which position, it was hoped, would then devolve updn Lieute- 
nant-Governor Juimson. The managers appointed by tlie House to 

195 



6 POWELL CLAYTON. 

Other impeachment managers having been appointed, all Dem- 
ocrats, made a report that they could not procure any testimony in 
support of the charges against Governor Clayton, and they there- 
fore moved that the articles of irajieachment be dismissed. This 
report was adopted by a large majority, and on the same day Gov- 
ernor Clayton resigned his Senatorship, basing his action upon the 
fact that his vacation of the executive chair would leave therein 
Lieutenant-Governor Johnson, whose case had been decided in his 
favor a few days before. Considerable time elapsed, when, on 
March 13th, Hon. R. J. T; White, Secretary of State, resigned. 
Upon the same day Lieutenant-Governor Johnson tendered his res- 
ignation, and was immediately after appointed to the vacant Sec- 
retaryship of State. The State Senate thereupon elected Hon. O. 
A. Hadley President of the Senate, a geutleraan in every way pop- 
ular with the Republican party. The day following witnessed the 
meeting of the Legislature to elect a United States Senator, and 
each house on the first ballot re-elected Governor Clayton. He 
immediately resigned his executive position, and, March 25, 1871, 
took his seat in the United States Senate. 

On the 9th of January, 1872, Mr. Scott, from the Joint Select 
Committee to inquire into the condition of the late insurrectionary 
States, reported to the Senate, that in the prosecution of their in- 
quiries the testimony of certain witnesses tended to impeach the 
official character and conduct of Senator Clayton. The Senate 
thereupon appointed a select committee of three to investigate and 
report upon the charges. After a long and laborious investigation, 
a majoi'ity of the committee, on the 2-4th of March, 1873, reported 
a resolution that the charges were not sustained. This was adopted 
by a vote of thirty three yeas to six nays. 

196 




^ 




^^ 






CA^^^ 



HENRY COOPER. 




'ENRT COOPEE was bom in Columbia, Maury county, 
Tennessee, August 22, 1827. He was educated at Jack- 
son College, graduating August 11, 1847. He studied 
for the bar, to which he was admitted in August, 18-19, and com- 
menced the 2)ractice in Shelbyville, Tennessee, January 1, 1850. 
He was married, November 19, 1850, to Miss Ann Strickler, who, 
with live children, constitutes his family. 

In 1853, Mr. Cooper was nominated by the convention of the 
Whig Party of his district as a candidate for representative in the 
Legislature from the counties of Bedford and Rutherford, and in the 
following August was triumphantly elected, receiving a much larger 
majority than the other Whig candidates in the district. He was 
not a candidate in the next election, the Know-Nothing Party liav- 
ing arisen in the mean time, of which he was not a member, as he 
disapproved of all secret political societies. In 1857, Mr. Cooper 
was again nominated for tlie Legislature, and, after a very exciting 
canvass, was elected over a very popular opponent. 

In 1860, he was elected by the State Convention as a delegate 
to the National Convention of the Union Party, held at Balti- 
more, in which he supported the Hon. John Bell, who was then 
nominated for the Presidency. In the struggle which ensued, 
culminating in the civil war, Mr. Cooper was a firm and devoted 
friend of the Union. He did all in his power to prevent the seces- 
sion of his State ; and when Tennessee joined in the rebellion, he 
determined not to follow her, but to maintain his allegiance to the 
Federal Union. His devotion to his country, as embodied in the 
Constitution and the Union of the States, is evident from an ex- 
pression in one of his speeches to the people, in wliich he said, " I 
would rather leave my children the inheritance of such a govern- 
ment as I have enjoyed, with all its blessings of political and 
religious freedom, than to leave them the wealth of the Indies." 

197 



2 HENRY COOPER. 

After the occnpation of tlie State by the national troops, Mr. 
Cooper was called to the bench as judge of the Seventh Judicial 
Circuit. This position he continued to hold, althoiigh he made 
several attempts to resign, until January, 1867, when his resignation 
was accepted. AVliile on tlie bench, many of the questions growing 
out of the war came before him for adjudication ; among others, 
the constitutionality of the law limiting the elective franchise, and 
the legal status of contracts growing out of the use as a circulating 
medium of confederate treasury notes. His decision in both cases 
was reversed by the Supreme Court of the State. His decision in 
the last case — that of confederate money — was afterward sustained, 
in an analogous case, by the Supreme Court of the United States. 

In February, 1866, Mr. Cooper was made president of the fii"st 
State Convention of the Union Conservative Party. In September, 
1866, he accepted a professorship in the law-school of Cumberland 
University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, in which he continued until 
June, 1868, when he resigned and removed to Nashville, where he 
resumed the practice of law. In the reorganization of the State, he 
favored a liberal policy to all who had adhered to the Southern 
cause ; and in public speeches urged universal amnesty as the surest 
and safest way to a triie and lasting peace. 

In July, 1869, while absent fi"om home on professional business, 
he was nominated by the Democratic and Conservative party as a 
candidate for the State Senate, from the county of Davidson, and 
was elected by a majority of twenty-five hundred. In the Legisla- 
ture to which he was thus elected there occurred a most exciting 
contest for the United States Senatorship, ex-President Andrew 
Johnson being the most prominent candidate. Mr. Cooper was 
elected, and took his seat March 4, 1871, for the term ending in 
1877. 

He is now identified with the Democratic Party ; but those who 
know liim best believe that he will not hesitate to act with any 
other party whose policy he believes will better subserve the public 
interest. It is expected that he will act independently, and do that 
which he believes will soonest restore the whole people to fraternal 
feeling. ^^^ 




^'^'^y^^h^- : s,..,tzh" 




^xT^^-^/^^ 



HEE"RT G. DATIS. 




,ENRY G. DAVIS was born in Howard County, Mary- 
land, November 16, 1823. Losing bis fatber wben quite 
^** young, be was for years occupied in severe manual labor 
to aid in tbe maintenance of bis widowed motber and younger 
brotbers. He enjoyed only limited advantages of scbools, wbicb, 
bowever, be improved to the utmost. In 1843 be entered tbe 
service of tbe Baltimore and Obio Railroad as brakeman, and was 
from tbis position advanced to be conductor, assistant superintend- 
ent of trains, and agent at Piedmont. 

In 1858 be became President of tbe Piedmont Savings Bank ; 
about tbe same time be formed a partnership witb bis brotbers in 
tbe lumber and coal trade. He was successful as a financier, and 
established a large and prosperous business. 

During tlie late civil war be sympathized with the Government 
in its efforts to suppress tbe rebellion, taking, however, but little 
part in public affairs. His first prominent appearance in politics 
was in 1865, when be was elected as a Democrat from Hampshire 
County to the Virginia House of Delegates, in which he served on 
tbe Finance Committee. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Dem- 
ocratic National Convention. In tbe autumn of that year he was 
elected to the Senate of West Virginia from a district which bad 
previously gone Republican by large majorities — " overcoming," 
said the Baltimore " Sun," " by bis popularity and energy a large 
vote which was counted against him wben he entered tbe contest." 
On the same occasion tbe Martinsburg "New Era" said: "Mr. 
Davis has no one to thank for his election : it is attributable alone 
to his own indomitable will and indefatigable labors. Without 
any experience as a public speaker, he yet met his opponents on 

199 



2 HENRY G. DAVIS. 

the stump, and in every instance came off best. He is a courteous 
gentleman, of unsullied honor, of incorruptible integrity, and prom- 
ising ability as a financier, second to none in the State." 

In 1870 Mr. Davis was re-elected to the State Senate by an in- 
creased majority, and was made Cliairman of the Committee on 
Taxation and Finance. While holding this position he was elected 
to the Senate of the United States. On the occurrence of that 
event the Wheeling "Register" said: "He is a representative of 
the class of ' self-made men,' and owes tlie position he has attained 
to his own native ability and force of character. There are very 
few public men indeed who have surmounted as many obstacles and 
acliieved as many successes as has Mr. Davis." 

Taking his seat in the Senate on the fourth of March, 1871, Mr. 
Davis at once applied himself with assiduity to the duties of his 
position. He was, at the opening of the Forty-third Congress, ap- 
pointed on the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee 
on Claims. He brought to the discharge of his duties a practical 
ability and unquestionable fidelity to the interests of his State. 

A leading journal of West Virginia, which was not friendly to 
Mr. Davis's Senatorial aspirations, said, after more than two years 
of his term had elapsed : 

" It gives us not only great pleasure to attest his devotion to the 
great principles of Democratic free government, but also to bear 
testimony to his watchful care over all legislation likely to bear 
upon the intei'ests of his constituency. ... It is highly compliment- 
ary to his talents and aptitude, that in so short an experience he has 
attained to a very influential position in the gravest deliberative 
body known to our system of government." 

The Wheeling "Register" of March 15, 1873, after noting the 

appointment of Mr. Davis upon the Committee on Appropriations, 

one of the most important standing committees of the Senate, said : 

" It gives us pleasure to note the fact that there are none of the new 

members of the Senate who are more esteemed than he by his fjel- 

low-Senators, and few who have acquired so much influence in a 

quiet and unostentatious way." 

200 




' ; 'l' E£ik!i 6 Sf'i ti w ••''-'" 




THOMAS W. FERRY. 




HOMAS W. FERRY was born in Mackinaw, Michigan, 
Jnne 1, 1827. His father, Rev. William M. Ferry, emi- 
grated from Massachusetts to Michigan in 1822, and 
established the Mackinaw Mission, which, under his 
management, was very successful until it was terminated bj the re- 
moval of the Indians further West. After this event he made a 
tour of Lake Michigan, in an open boat, to determine where he 
should make his future home. He visited Chicago, then only a 
military outpost, and many other places, and finally located at 
Grand Haven, Michigan. Here he established his family, building 
the first frame house erected in that city. 

Possessed of great physical endurance, strength of mind, and 
force of will, the pioneer preacher turned his attention to develop- 
ing the natural resources of the region. He immediately began 
operations in the lumber business, which soon reached large propor- 
tions. With the aid of his four sons he erected mills, built vessels 
for transportation, and made Grand Haven an important source of 
the lumber trade for Chicago and vicinity. A business partnership 
with a father so energetic, thorough, and successful had a tendency 
to develop sterling traits of character in his sons. When the war 
broke out two of them entered the army, one of whom. Major 
N. H. Ferry, of the Fifth Michigan cavalry, fell at Gettysburg, 
shot through the head while bravely leading his command. 

Thomas W. Ferry's first political associations were with the 
Whigs, by whom he was elected to the Legislature of Michigan in 
1857. After the disintegration of the Whig party he became a 
Republican, and as such was elected to the State Senate in 1857, 
years. He soon became an active and influential 
201 



serving two 



2 THOMAS W. FERRY. 

member of the Republican party. For a period of eight years he 
served on the Republican State Central Committees of Michigan. 
In 1860 he was a member and one of the Vice-Presidents of 
the National Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the 
Presidency. 

In 1804 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the 
Thirty-ninth Congress. In this Congress he was appointed upon 
three Committees: Post-ofSces and Post-Roads, Militia, and the 
War Debts of the Loyal States. He was the lirst to move success- 
fully in securing appropriations for harbors on Lake Michigan, and 
obtained the passage of other important measures for developing 
the resources and promoting tlie commerce of his State. 

Mr. Ferry was re-elected to Congress for his second term by a 
majority of more than seven thousand votes. In the Fortieth Con- 
gress he was re-appointed on the Post-office Committee, and was 
placed on the important Committee on Naval Affairs. A Wash- 
ington correspondent said : '' Mr. Ferry is the hardest worker in 
the Post-office Committee. The Department places hira next to 
Colfax in connection with our mail system." He did much to in- 
crease mail facilities for the region which he represented. When 
he entered Congress, in 1864, there was only a weekly mail from 
Grand Haven to Traverse City. Now there is a daily lake-shore 
mail, a daily mail by steamers, a daily interior mail from Grand 
Rapids to Traverse City, and a daily mail to Milwaukee, Chicago, 
and St. Joseph. 

Mr. Ferry was Chairman of a Sub-Committee to visit New York 
to examine the old Post-office, and report upon the necessity of a 
new one. Speaking of the result of this investigation as laid before 
the House by Mr. Ferry, the New York Herald said : " The report 
is an interesting and instructive document. Mr. Ferry takes a 
broad and statesmanlike view of the wonderful progress and future 
grandeur of this metropolis, and urges the erection of an edifice 
which in point of architecture and completeness will do honor to 
the Republic and to her greatest city." 

Me was influential in defeating the passage of a bill establishing 

202 



THOMAS W. FERRY. 3 

\o-^ tariff on lumber coming from Canada. In a speech on this 
measure Mr. Ferry said : " Are we under any obligation to pursue 
80 generous a policy as is proposed by the Committee toward Can- 
ada? What has she done to merit this liberal treatment? What 
has been the experience of the past years of our sanguinary war ? 
Did she lend the aid of her sympathy and good-will, most cheaply 
given, which would have been gladly received ? No, sir ; she pre- 
ferred to offer her soil as an asylum for plotters, conspirators, and 
traitors against the life of this Government. The treatment we 
have given Canada deserved her encouragement in the hour of our 
peril. Her press and voices should have been raised to conciliate 
England, to remind her that in the veins of this great people, 
battling for life and liberty, there ran the blood of her own sons, 
and that her hand should be stayed against a contest so righteous 
as putting down a rebellion founded on human slavery. We 
fought alone, under the sneers and jeers of both England and 
Canada, and crowned our victory with universal liberty, and vindi- 
cated the rights of humanity." 

When the tax-bill was under consideration Mr. Ferry made a 
successful argument in favor of exempting breadstuffs and lumber 
from the tax. " It harmonizes," said he, " with the theory of that 
legislation which generously grants a free homestead to the poor 
settler who, for want of means, would otherwise roam homeless and 
a wanderer throughout the land. Freeing lumber from taxation 
lessens its cost and cheapens the shelter of the homestead. Releas- 
ing breadstuffs from taxation reduces the cost of the primal food of 
the primal poverty-stricken settler. With a free home, a free shel- 
ter, and free food, the staple and necessary conditions of livelihood 
are protected, and the poorer classes of the community befriended 
by a considerate Government. With such protection and such a 
start in life, failure to rise above the misfortunes which hover around 
the more dependent classes of citizenship must be chargeable to per- 
sonal inefficiency rather than to legislative authority." 

Ke-elected for the third time, in the Forty-first Congress Mr. 
Ferry remained on the Committees on Post-offices and Naval 

203 



4 THOMAS W. FERRY. 

Affairs, and was iappointed on the Committee on Eules. He fre- 
quently addressed the House on important subjects of legislation. 
Pending the Indian Appropriation Bill, he delivered a speech re- 
plete with philanthropic views, in the conclusion of which he said : 

" It is the verification of what is known to be true by those who 
best understand the habits and character of the Indian that, natu- 
rally hospitable, generous, and just, dividing with friends so long as 
they have any thing to share, they become shy, treacherous, and 
murderous wlien their hospitality is violated, their generosity out- 
raged, and the smoke of peace returned by cruelty and the torch of 
desolation. No wonder that such treatment causes the pipe to be 
changed into the tomahawk. Then the cry is, ' Indian treachery ! ' 
' Wanton massacre ! ' to be succeeded by organized military forces 
for devastation and annihilation." 

Mr. Ferry was re-elected a Representative from Michigan to the 
Forty-second Congress, but before taking his seat was elected to the 
Senate of the United States, the successor of Hon. Jacob M. Howard, 
for the term of six years from March 4, 1871. He was placed on 
the Committees of Finance, Post-offices, and the District of Co- 
lumbia. At the beginning of the Forty-third Congress he was 
also made Chairman of the Committee on Rules. On that occasion 
the New York Times, referring to the new Committees of the 
Senate, said, " Mr. Ferry, of Michigan, succeeds Mr. Pomeroy as 
Chairman of the Committee on Rules, a place seldom accorded to 
one so young in service, but for which Mr. Ferry's ability as a 
presiding officer has shown him to be abundantly qualified." Mr. 
Ferry was frequently called by the Vice-President to occupy the 
chair, in which position he displayed rare knowledge of parlia- 
mentary law and skill in the discharge of such delicate and respon- 
sible duties. 

His first speech in the Senate was upon the Chicago Relief Bill. 
Present during the Chicago fire, he ofi'ered and sold his own lumber 
at ante-fire prices at great pecuniary sacrifice, and thus succeeded in 
eflfectnally breaking a " ring " formed for the purpose of putting up 
the price of lumber on the sufferers. In the Senate, when it was 

204 



THOMAS W. FERRY. 5 

proposed by the Cliicago Eelief Bill to strike at the lumber interests 
of Michigan, which State had also largely suffered by fire, he 
deemed it his duty to rise above personal sympathy in defense of 
the interests of his constituents by opposing the bill in the form of 
relief proposed. His efforts in this debate had much to do in 
breaking the precedent established by the Portland Eelief Bill, the 
good results of which were more apparent after the Boston fire. 

In a discussion which occurred May 13, 1872, on a proposition 
to pay a mechanic in the navy yard for the use by the Government 
of his valuable inventions, certain Senators opposed the measure for 
the reason that the inventor was in the employ of the Government; 
but Mr. Ferry addressed the Senate earnestly in favor of it, main- 
taining that " the Government should not, because it employs an 
individual, deprive him of some share of the fruits of his mind and 
his genius. The results of such a policy, if pursued, will be that 
mechanics will follow in the old ruts; in other words, there will be 
no stimulus to invention, and their employment will be just such as 
those who preceded them." 

Mr. Ferry introduced a resolution to set apart the Island of 
Mackinac as " a national public park for health, comfort, and 
pleasure, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.-' He advo- 
cated this resolution in an eloquent speech, in which he said : 

" We cannot too early or too surely arrest and preserve from 
decay relics of national history or fame. We owe it to ourselves 
and to the future to grasp, and fix in some form to hand down to 
posterity, all points or incidents of historic value which serve to 
illustrate the march of the nation. I would add this example in 
perpetuity of that worthy record, that this, with other national 
memorials, may not perish, but brighten with the lapse of time." 

During the discussion of the Caldwell case in March, 1S73, an 
amendment having been proposed to the resolution of the Com- 
mittee declaring the seat vacant, that Mr, Caldwell, instead, be ex- 
pelled, Mr. Ferry offered an amendment by which a vote could be 
taken upon the original resolution questioning the validity of the 

election, substantially as reported by the Committee, and which 

205 



6 THOMAS W. FERRY 

liail been so long and ably discussed. Maintaining with much 
force of reasoning the importance of such a direct vote, he said : 

"The pivotal idea upon which the whole debate has ranged has 
been the effect which bribery has upon the election of a Senator. 
It is due to the Senate and to the country that this debate should 
be allowed to crystallize into a vote upon the merits of the ques- 
tion. The gravity of the case demands that a precedent should be 
established by the solemn judgment of the Senate upon the simple 
question of the Committee at issue, otherwise the debate is substan- 
tially a waste, so far as the recorded opinion of this body is con- 
cerned. What more opportune moment could be afforded for the 
dispassionate discliarge of a constitutional duty ? Although no ad- 
vocate of the hackneyed shibboleth of ' State rights,' I do entertain 
due respect for State sovereignty, and believe now is the time for 
the Senate to mark the boundary lietween Federal and State elective 
jurisdiction. Our associates over the way have divided in the ex- 
pression of their views, and thrown down the gauntlet for equal 
abandonment of political affiliations on this side of the Chamber in 
the determination of a high constitutional question. Partisan strife 
is wholly at rest. Survey the national horizon, and not a speck as 
big as a man's hand indicates the approach, much less prevalence, 
of political antagonisms. The heat and criminations of party zeal 
have subsided into the cool and respectful amenities of citizen 
fellowship. 

" Is it not the time and place, and would we not be recreant to 
our duty, if we did not rise above the politician into the domain of 
official dignity to hail this auspicious occasion when we can pro- 
.lounce the clear, enlightened judgment of the statesman in the 
exalted forum of the American Senate ? " 

The senatorial career of Mr. Ferry, but recently begun, is a 
fulfillment of the promise of his successful service in the House. 
His speeches show him to be a careful observer of current events, 
and a diligent student of political science. As a citizen, he takes 
a deep interest in all moral and benevolent enterprises. 

206 




■S-fdiySEBji Asors einv." "-^ 



^^/A 



C-'i^^C^^O 



PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK. 



^^^HINEAS W. HITCHCOCK was born at New Lebanon, 




^m( ^&^^ York, November 30, 1831. His ancestors were 
English, who settled in New England in early colonial 
days. He obtained a liberal education, graduating at 
Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1855. He then studied law, 
and removed to Nebraska in the spring of 1857. In these early 
days he was an active member of the Omaha Library and Debating 
Society. Although modest and unobtrusive in manner, and by no 
means boisterous or aggressive, he gave evidence of possessing 
superior qualities as a debater and extemporaneous speaker. 

Engaging actively in the business of real estate and the practice 
of law, he at the same time took a deep interest in politics, and was 
ranked as a leading abolitionist. He was one of the organizers of 
the Republican party in Nebraska. He aided in establishing the 
first Kepublican newspaper in the State, and as a constant con- 
tributor to its columns did much to mold public sentiment in the 
infant commonwealth. He was a member of the Republican 
National Convention at Chicago in 1860. He was appointed 
United States Marshal in 1861, and held the ofiice until 1864, 
when he was elected as Territorial Delegate to the Tiiirty-ninth 
Congress. In that Congress he took a deep interest in public lands, 
Indian affairs, and other subjects of vital concern to the Territory 
which he represented. On the admission of Nebraska as a State 
he was appointed Surveyor-General, which position he held two 
years. He was elected as a Republican to the United States 
Senate, to succeed Hon. John M. Thayer, for the term commencing 
March 4, 1871. " He is," said the " Omaha Republican," on this 
occasion, "a faithful friend, and an outspoken and honorable op- 
ponent ; ever true to his promises, and universally esteemed as an 

207 



2 PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK. 

honorable and valuable citizen ; a thorough Republican, a vigorous 
and eifective worker, of the most correct personal habits, and will 
serve the State and nation with credit and fidelity in the lofty posi- 
tion to which he has been elected." 

In the Senate Mr. Hitchcock served on the Committee on Ter- 
ritories, the Committee on the District of Columbia, and the Com- 
mittee on the Pacific Kailroad. His addresses in the Senate, 
though not frequent, are always forcible and efiective. Ha\nng 
proposed an amendment to the Indian Appropriation Bill to afford 
greater facility for presenting claims for compensation for depreda- 
tions committed by the Indians, he supported the measure by a 
speech, of which the following are the closing paragraphs : 

" Sir, the tenderness toward the Indian of these philanthropic 
gentlemen is equal to the patriotism of Artemus Ward, who was 
willing all his wife's relatives should be drafted into the army. 
They insist that every body but themselves should be kind to the 
Indian. Having driven him out of the eastern portion of this 
country with fire and sword, they ask that we shall take hini and 
keep him, and are quite shocked that we are disposed to object to 
his little eccentricities of stealing and destroying our property and 
scalping our wives and children. They talk flippantly about 
western men wronging and driving out the Indian and stealing 
his land. What title to their lands (as against Indians) have our 
eastern friends tliat we have not to ours? Possession to stolen 
property, be it long or short, gives no title. The fact that they 
have held their lands longer than we only makes their sin against 
the Indian (the real owner, according to their view) the greater. 

" Sir, when the}' reconvey to the Indians the rich fields and 
green meadows of the East ; when Plymouth Rock, and Manhattan 
Island, and Bunker Hill are returned once again to their ' original 
proprietors ; ' when the bloody pages of the earlj' history of our 
country are blotted from the records, then, and not till then, can 
our Eastern friends wrap themselves in the mantle of 'self-right- 
eousness' and lecture us of the West for our sins against the 

Indians." 

208 



^X^ Wr^ 




/^£^ ta ^ fti^i /^ 



JOHN W. JOHNSTON. 



TXi^OHN W. JOHNSTON was born at Abingdon, Virginia, 




September 9, 1818. His father, who lived but about a 
year after marriage, was an eminent physician, a brother 
of General Joseph E. Johnston, of the Confederate Array, 
and the son of Judge Peter Johnston, who served through the 
whole of the Revolutionary War, attached to Lee's legion. On the 
mother's side the subject of this sketch is the grand-nephew of 
General William Campbell, who commanded the American forces 
at the battle of King's Mountain, and on the father's side a grand- 
nephew of Patrick Henry. 

Young Johnston in early life gave evidence of an active tem- 
perament, and manifested great anxiety to acquire knowledge. He 
received the rudiments of his education at the Abingdon Academy. 
At the age of fifteen he had prepared himself for college, and on 
horseback and alone he traveled from Abingdon to Columbia, 
South Carolina, where he entered South Carolina College, in which 
he studied about four years, but left without graduating. While 
at college he was a diligent student, and held a good position in his 
classes. 

After leaving the South Carolina College he entered the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, where he devoted one session to the study of 
law. He then completed his legal education in the law-ofiice of 
his uncle, Hon. Beverly E.. Johnston, one of the most eminent 
lawyers of the South. In the year 1839, when in his twenty-first 
year, he was admitted to the bar, and immediately removed to 
Jefiersonville, Tazewell County, Virginia, where he opened an 
office and commenced an active and successful career in the prac- 
tice of law. 

209 



2 JOHN W. JOHNSTON. 

lu 1841 he married Miss Nicketti B. Floyd, youngest daughter 
of Governor Floyd, and sister of John B. Floyd, who was Secretary 
of War under Mr. Buchanan. In 184G he was elected to the State 
Senate for two years, but took little part in the proceedings of that 
body, and declined a re-election. In 1850 he was elected President 
of the North-western Bank of Virginia, which was located at 
Jeffersonville. He served in this position for eight years, when he 
resigned and removed to Abingdon, his present residence. Here 
he continued in the practice of his profession, principally in the 
same Courts as before, conducting a business whicb had become 
very large and lucrative. 

He was a Democrat before the war, and when hostilities com- 
menced warmly espoused the cause of the South. After the war 
his disabilities were removed without his knowledge through the 
kind intervention of an officer of the United States Army, with 
whom he had become acquainted. General Stoneman appointed 
him Judge of the Tenth Judicial District of Virginia, and while 
holding that office he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States as a representative of the Conservative element of his 
State. 

Admitted to his seat in the Senate January 28, 1870, during the 
remainder of the Forty -first Congress Mr. Johnston took an active 
])art in the debates on the original and supplemental Enforcement 
bills, speaking earnestly against both measures. He also resisted 
the passage of the Naturalization bill, and was quite vigorous in 
his effijrts in favor of the reduction of taxation and the repeal of 
the Internal Revenue system, of which, in his speech of January 
26, 1871, he said : 

It is not equal in its operation, but bears with almost destructive weight 
upon some p.nrts of the country and some imi)ortant interests. It is badly ad- 
ministered, and cannot well lie otherwise. It is demoralizing in its eft'ects, and 
tends to weaken the respect of the people for the Government and lessen their 
inclination to obey the laws; and it extends thj jurisdiction of the United 
States Courts, extends the powers of the General Government, swells the already 
too great patronage of the Executive, is fatal to the individual liberties of the 
people, and destroys the constitutional rights of the States. 

•210 






^^. 



^.tilN-'m lK J-'i-jjM iL,:^i,^j: ';;-■ 



JOHN A. LOGAN. 




"OHN A. LOGAN was born in Jackson County, Illinois, 
February 9, 1S26. His father, Dr. John Logan, came from 
Ireland to Illinois in 1823 ; his mother, Elizabeth Jenkins, 
was a Tennesseean. He was indebted for his early education to his 
fathei", and to such teachers as chanced to remain for brief periods in 
the new settlement. 

At the commencement of the Mexican war young Logan volun- 
teered, and was chosen Lieutenant in a company of the First Illinois 
Infantry. He did good service as a soldier, and was for some time 
adjutant of his regiment. On his return home, in the fall of 1848, 
he commenced the study of law in the ofRee of his uncle, Alexander 
M. Jenkins, Esq., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. In No- 
vember, 1849, he was elected Clerk of Jackson County. He at- 
tended a course of law lectures in Louisville, and having received his 
diploma in 1857, he commenced the practice of his profession with 
his uncle. By his popular manners and rare abilities he soon won 
his way to a high place in public esteem, and was, in 1852, elected 
Prosecuting-Attorney of the Third Judicial District. In the autumn 
of the same year he was elected to the State Legislature, and was 
three times re-elected. In 1856 he was a presidential elector. In 
1858 he was elected by the Democrats as a Representative in Con- 
gress, and was re-elected in 1860. In the Presidential campaign of 
this year he ardently advocated the election of Mr. Douglas ; never- 
theless, on the first intimation of coming trouble from the South. 
Mr. Logan did not hesitate to declare that in the event of Mr. 
Lincoln's election he would " shoulder his musket to have him in- 
augurated." 

"When in Washington, in attendance on the called session of Con- 

211 



2 JOHN A. LOGAN. 

gress, in July, 1861, Mr. Logan joined the troops that were marching 
to meet the enemy. He fought in the ranks at the disastrous battle 
of Bull Run, and was among the last to leave the field. Returning 
to his home, he announced to his constituents the determination to 
enter the service of the country, for the defence of the " old blood- 
stained flag." 

His stirring and patriotic eloquence rallied multitudes of volun- 
teers ; and on the 13th of September, 1861, the Thirty-first Regiment 
of Illinois Infantry was organized and ready to take the field, under 
command of Colonel Logan. The regiment was attached to Gen- 
eral McClernand's Brigade. Its first experience in battle was at 
Belmont, where Colonel Logan had his horse shot under him. And 
here he assisted materially in preventing the capture of a part of 
General McClernand's command by leading his men in a bayonet 
charge, breaking the enemy's line, and opening the way for the force 
that was being surrounded. He led his regiment in the attack 
upon Fort Henrj'. While gallantly leading his men in the assault 
on Fort Donelson, he received a severe wound, which disabled him 
for some time from active service. Reporting again for duty to Gen 
eral Grant, at Pittsburg Landing, he was, in March, 1862, made a 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers. He took an important part in the 
movement against Corinth ; and subsequently was given command 
at Jackson, Tennessee, with instructions to guard the railroad com- 
munications. 

His numerous friends and old constituents urged him to become a 
candidate for re-election to Congress in 1862, as representative for 
the State at large ; but he replied to their importunities with these 
glowing words of patriotism : 

" In reply I would most respectfully remind you that a compliance 
with your request on my part wtnild be a departure from the settled 
resolution with which I resumed my sword in defence and for the 
perpetuity of a Government the like and blessings of which no other 
nation or age shall enjoy, if once suflTered to be weakened or de- 
Btroyed. In making this reply, I feel that it is unnecessary to en- 

212 



JOHN A. LOGAN. 3 

large upon what were, or are, or may hereafter be, my political 
views, but would simply state that politics, of every grade and char- 
acter whatsoever, are now ignored by me, since I am convinced that 
the Constitution and life of the Republic — which I shall never cease 
to adore — are in danger. I express all my views and politics when I 
assert my attachment for the Union. I have no other politics now, 
and consequently no aspirations for civil place and power. 

" No ! I am to-day a soldier of this Republic, so to remain, 
changeless and immutable, until her last and weakest enemy shall 
have expired and passed away. 

" Ambitious men, who have not a true love for their country at 
heart, may bring forth crude and bootless questions to agitate the 
pulse of our troubled nation, and thwart the preservation of this 
Union, but for none of such am I. I have entered the field to die, 
if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return to peace- 
ful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a 
fact established. 

" Whatever means it may be necessary to adopt, whatever local 
interests it may affect or destroy, is no longer an affair of mine. If 
any locality or section suffers or is wronged in the prosecution of the 
war, I am sorry for it, but I say it must not be heeded now, for we 
are at war for the preservation ot the Union. Let the evil be recti- 
fied when the present breach has been cemented for ever. 

" If the South by her malignant treachery has imperilled all that 
made her great and wealthy, and it was to be lost, I would not 
stretch forth my hand to save her from destruction, if she will not 
be saved by a restoration of the Union. Since the die of her 
wretchedness lias been cast by her own hands, let the coin of her 
misery circulate alone in her own dominions until the peace of 
Union ameliorates her forlorn condition." 

In Grant's Northern Mississippi campaign, General Logan com- 
manded the third division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under 
General MePherson, exhibiting a skill and bravery which led to his 
promotion as Major-General of Volunteers, dating from November 

■213 



■i JOHN A. LOGAN. 

26, 1862. He took an active part in the movement on Vicksburg ; 
the seven steamboats which ran the batteries there with supplies 
were manned exclusively by men from his command of his own 
selection. We subsequently see him contributing to the victory at 
Port Gibson, savinj,' the day by his personal valor at the battle of 
Eaymond, participating in the defeat of the rebels at Jackson, and 
taking a prominent part in the battle at Champion Hill. 

General Grant, in his report of the last mentioned battle, uses the 
following language : " Logan rode up at this time, and told me that 
if Hovey could make another dash at the enemy, he could come up 
from where he then was and capture the greater part of their force." 
Which suggestions were acted upon and fully realized. 

In the siege of Vicksburg he commanded McPherson's centre, 
and on ihe 25th of June made the assault after the explosion of the 
mine. His column was the first to enter the surrendered city, and 
he was made its Miliiary Governor. The Seventeenth Army Corps 
honored him by the presentation of a gold medal inscribed with the 
names of the nine battles in wiiich his heroism and generalship had 
been distinguished. 

He succeeded General Sherman in the command of the Fifteenth 
Army Corps, in November, 1863, and during the following winter 
had his head-cjuarters at Huntsville, Alabama. In May, 1864, he 
joined the Grand Army, which, under General Sherman, was prepar- 
ing for its march into Georgia. He led the advance of the Army of 
the I ennessee in tiie movement at Resaca, and participated in the 
battle which ensued, with Wood's Division, charging and capturing 
the enem3''s lines of works between the fort and the river. At 
Dallas, on the 23d of May, he met and repulsed Hardee's veterans. 
The next day, while pointing out to Generals Sherman and McPher- 
pon the position of the enemy, he was again wounded by a shot 
through the left arm ; nevertheless he continued in the field, carrying 
his arm in a slitig. At Kenesaw Mountain lie drove the enemy 
from his line of works, and on the 27th of June made a desperate 

assault against the impregnable face of Little Kenesaw. 

214 



JOHN A. LOGAN. 5 

At the battle of Atlanta, on the 22d of July, in the hottest of the 
fight, Logan was informed of the fall of his beloved commander, 
General McPherson, in another 'part of the field. Assuming com- 
mand, General Logan dashed impetuously along the lines, shouting, 
" McPherson and revenge." The efiFect was electrical, and thou- 
sands of rebels slain on that sanguinary field attested the love of 
the Union soldiers for their dead commander, and their enthusiastic 
imitation of the valor of his successor. 

General Sherman, in his report, speaking of the death of General 
McPherson, says : " General Logan succeeded him and commanded 
the Army of the Tennessee through this desperate battle, with the same 
success and ability that had characterized him in the command of a 
corps or division." And in his letter of August 16th, to General 
Halleck, General Sherman said : *' General Logan fonght that battle 
out as required, unaided save by a small brigade sent by my orders." 
On the 28th of July he fought the battle of Ezra Chapel, where, in 
the language of General Sherman, " He commanded in person, and 
that corps, as heretofore reported, i-epulsed the rebel army com- 
pletely." He was efficient in the remaining battles until after the 
fall of Atlanta, when his troops being ordered into camp for a 
season of respite, he went North and spent a few months in stumping 
the "Western States during the Presidential campaign of 1864. His 
troops forming a part of Sherman's Grand Army in its march to 
the sea. General Logan rejoined them at Savannah, Georgia. 

From Savannah he marched with his corps through the Carolinas, 
actively participating in the battle of Benton's Cross Eoads or Mill 
Creek. After Johnson's surrender, he marched with his veterans to 
"Washington, and took, part in the great review of the victorious 
Union armies on the 23d of May. On the same day he was 
appointed to the command of the Army of the Tennessee. As soon 
as active duty in the field was over, he at once tendered his resigna- 
tion, stating he did not desire to draw pay when not in active 
service. 

He was offered the position of Minister to Mexico in 1865, but 

215 



6 JOHN A. LOGAN. 

declined the lionor. He was in 1866 elected a Representative to 
the Fortieth Congress, from the State at large, receiving 203,045 
votes against 147,058 given for his Democratic opponent. " He im- 
mediately occupied a position of influence in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, to which his previous experience, his acknowledged 
ability, and his success as a civilian and a soldier entitled him. He 
opposed the pretensions of President Johnson, and as one of the 
managers on the part of the House of Representatives aided in con- 
ducting the Impeachment trial. 

Re-elected to the Forty-first Congress he was made chairman 
of the Committee on Military Affairs. In this capacity he ren- 
dered great service to the country by bringing forward and secur- 
ing the passage of an act for the reduction of the army. He 
advocated this measure March 10, 1870, in an able and elaborate 
speech, in which he presented a convincing array of facts and argu- 
ments. Time has demonstrated the wisdom of this measure, whicli 
is another illustration that 

" Peace hath her victories 
No less renowned than war." 

Mr. Logan was re-elected Representative from the State at large 
to the Forty-second Congress, but before that Congress convened 
he was chosen by the Legislature a Senator of the United States 
for the term commencing March 4, 1871. In the Senate he has 
fully sustained the high reputation gained by long and successful 
service in the House. He cordially sustained the administration 
of President Grant, and one of the most eloquent and able of his 
efforts in the Senate was made June 3, 1872, in " Vindication of 
the President" against the attack of Mr. Sumner. He was chosen 
by the Senate Chairman of the Military Committee, to succeed Vice- 
President Wilson. • 

General Logan's career as a soldier, a politician, and a statesman 
has been unusually brilliant. From his impetuous personal brav- 
ery on the field of battle lie was styled " The Murat of the Union 
Army." In Congress his career has been no less successful and 

distino-uished. 

216 





y^Cy-Xy 



-r~^ 



HT/ 



THOMAS M. NORWOOD. 




ma. 



i^^)ROM.AS M ANSON" NOEWOOD was bom in Talbot 
County, Georgia, April 26, 1830. His father was Caleb 
M. Norwood, born in Blount County, Tennessee, and 
his mother was Jane Manson, a native of South Caro- 
His father removed to Talbot County, Georgia, in 1829, 
and thence to Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia, in 1836. This 
village was the seat of two academies, and was the center of a 
community of great wealth and high intellectual and moral culture. 
Mr. Norwood was placed under the tuition of Marvin Massey 
Mason, principal of one of the academies of the town, where he 
remained until he was prepared to enter on a collegiate course. 
His father at this time submitted to him the alternative of a colle- 
giate education or a patrimony at his majority. He without hesi- 
tation chose the former, and in the summer of 1847 entered Emory 
College, Oxford, Georgia, then presided over by Judge A. B. 
Longstreet, and graduated in the summer of 1850 under the presi- 
dency of Bishop George F. Pierce. After graduation he took 
charge of a school, which he conducted for one year. In Septem- 
ber, 1851, he, with Claudius C. "Wilson, late brigadier-general in the 
Confederate army, commenced the study of law at Culloden, in the 
office of James M. Smith, now Governor of Georgia. In February, 
1852, they were admitted by the Superior Court of Monroe County 
to practice law, and immediately went to Savannah, Georgia, where 
they opened a law office in ])artnership. 

In June, 1853, Mr. Norwood was married to Miss Anna M. 
Hendree, of Richmond, Virginia. He carried on his law practice 
prosperously for a number of years, but at the breaking out of the 
civil war the partnership was dissolved, one of the partners going 
into the military and the other into the civil service of the Con- 

217 



THOMAS M. NORWOOD. 



federate States. In 1861 Mr. Norwood was elected a member of 
the Legislature of Georgia, in which he served two years. In 
March, 1862, he enlisted as a private in the Chatham Artillery, in 
the service of the Confederate States, but was soon discharged by 
reason of an injury which disabled him from active duty. 

After the war Mr. IS^orwood resumed the practice of law in 
Savannah. He took an active part as a Democrat in the election 
held in Georgia, in April, 1868, in opposition to the adoption of 
the State Constitution under the Reconstruction Acts of Congress. 
He was appointed alternate Democratic elector for the State at 
large in 1868, on the Seymour and Blair ticket. 

In November, 1871, he was elected to the United States Senate 
as a Democrat for the term ending March 4, 1877. His seat was 
contested by Foster Blodgett, but in the decision of the question 
there was no division of opinion in favor of the right of Mr. 
Norwood to the seat, and he was admitted, December 19, 1871. 
Taking his seat in the Senate of the United States, Mr. Norwood 
at once devoted himself with assiduity to the public business. 

218 





j^yc 




JAMES K. KELLY. 



*> 




" HE ancestors of the subject of this sketch, both paternal 
and maternal, emigrated from the north of Ireland in the 
early part of the last century, and settled in Lancaster 
county, in the province of Pennsylvania. Here his grand- 
father, Colonel John Kelly, was born in the year 1744, and lived until 
about the year 1773, when he removed with his young wife to that 
portion of Northumberland county known as Buifalo Valley, and 
subsequently embraced within the limits of Snyder county. This 
was then an almost unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by a few 
resolute and daring adventurers, who braved alike the privations of 
a new country and the hostilities of the Indians, far more numerous 
than they. Tradition and story have chronicled the heroic deeds 
and adventures of Colonel Kelly, in Indian warfare in the valley of 
the Susquehanna. He also participated in the revolutionary war ; 
and, as a major, commanded a detachment of Pennsylvania militia 
in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Returning to his home 
in Buffalo Valley, he lived there the quiet life of a farmer, beloved 
and honored by all who knew him, and died at the advanced age of 
eighty-nine years. 

In that valley, John Kelly, the father of Senator Kelly, was born 
in the year 1774, and also became a farmer. When about forty 
years of age, he was imited in marriage with Anne Caldwell, of 
Northumberland county, a woman of more than ordinary men- 
tal endowments and strength of will. Soon after their marriage, 
they removed to George's Valley, in Centre county, Pennsylvania, 
where their second son, James K. Kelly, the subject of this notice, 
was born on the 16th day of February, 1819. Losing his mother by 

219 



2 JAMES K. KELLY. 

death in his early boyhood, he was left with two brothers and three 
sisters to the care of an indulgent father, and remained at home 
until he was about fifteen yeai^s of age. In the mean while he 
went part of the time to a country school, which he alternated 
with such work as a boy could do upon his father's farm. At that 
age he was sent to the Milton Academy, a classical school then 
favorably known throughout the State of Pennsylvania. There, 
and at the Lewisbxu'g Academy, he remained about three years, 
making such proficiency in his classical and mathematical studies 
that he was prepared to enter the junior class at Princeton College 
in the year 1837, and graduated at that institution in the class of 
1839. At the close of the year 1839, Mr. Kelly commenced the 
study of law, in the law school attached to Dickinson College, 
under the care and instruction of Hon. John Eeed, of Carlisle, and 
was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1842. The same year he 
commenced the practice of law in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where 
he resided until the spring of 1849. During the last year of Gover- 
nor David R. Porter's administration, he was appointed to, and 
held, the office of deputy attorney-general for Juniata county, and, 
upon the accession of Francis P. Shunk to the office of governor, 
Mr. Kelly was appointed deputy attorney-general for the county of 
Mifflin, in which he resided ; and held the office until the death of 
Governor Shunk. 

Filled with a spirit of adventure, in the spring of 1849, Mr. Kel- 
ly, in company with twelve other young men, left Pennsylvania for 
California. Going from Lewistown by stage to Pittsburg, they there 
took passage by steamboat to New-Orleans, and thence by sailing 
vessel to Vera Cruz. On horseback they crossed over the Mexican 
Republic to San Bias, on the Pacific coast, and there foimd a Mexi- 
can vessel boimd for San Francisco. On this they took passage for 
California, and landed in San Francisco on the 7th of July, 1849. 
Like nearly every other adventurer to the land of gold, Mr. Kelly 
went to the mines, and with pick and shovel worked hard in delv- 
ing for gold at Murphy's diggings, in Calaveras county. Here he 
mined until December of that year, when he went to San Fran- 
cisco, and again began the practice of law. Li the spring of 1851, 

220 



JAMES K. KELLY. ' 3 

■ lie went to Oregon, where lie has since continued to reside, practic- 
ing his profession with nmch success. In December, 1852, the 
Legislative j^ssembly of Oregon elected three members of the bay 
a board of commissioners to prepare a code of laws for that terri- 
tory. Of this commission, Mr. Kelly was the chairman, his asso- 
ciates being Hon. E. P. Boise and Hon. D. K. Bigelow. In June, 
185-3, he was elected a member of the Legislative Council, to fill a 
vacancy caused by the resignation of A. L. Lovejoy, of Clackamas 
county; and again, in 1854, he was reelected to the same office for 
the term of three years. During this term he was twice chosen 
president of the council. 

In the fall of 1855, doubtless by preconcerted action, Indian hos- 
tilities commenced throughout both Oregon and Washington terri- 
tories, in which nearly every Indian tribe within their borders was 
arrayed against the white population. A proclamation was issued 
by Governor Curry, calling for volunteers to defend the settlements 
from the hostile savages. Mr. Kelly, among others, responding to 
the call, vohinteered, and was elected captain of Company C, First 
Kegiment of Oregon Mounted Volunteers. In October, his com- 
pany marched across the Cascade Mountains, and joined other com-r 
panics of the same regiment, in Eastern Oregon, where, in organiz- 
ing, Hon. J. W. Nesinith, late United States Senator from Oregon, 
was elected colonel, and Mr. Kelly lieutenant-colonel of the regi- 
ment. Colonel Nesmith, taking five companies, marched to the 
scene of hostilities in the Yakima Valley, in Washington Territory, 
and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly to proceed with the other 
five companies to the valley of Walla Walla. While encamped 
on the Walla Walla River among the hostile Indians, the com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly, numbering about two hundred, 
was attacked by the combined forces of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and 
Walla Walla tribes of Indians, numbering not less than five or six 
hundred warriors, well mounted on fleet ponies. For three days 
the fight was continued, when the Indians, after sustaining heavy 
losses, were driven at all points, and fled precipitately beyond and 
north of Snake River, and scattered in all directions, leaving the 
Oregon volunteers in the iindisputed possession of the whole coun^ 

221 



4: JAMES K. KELLY. 

try soutli of that river. By this action, attended with considera- 
ble loss to the Oregon volunteers, the hostile Indians in the valleys 
of Walla Walla and Umatilla were thoroughly subdued, and have 
since remained at peace with the white inhabitants. In the spring 
of 1856, the first regiment of mounted volunteers was mustered out 
of service, and Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly returned to his home in 
Oregon City and resumed the practice of law. In 1857, he was 
elected a member of the convention which fi-amed the constitution 
of Oregon, and took an active part in the labors and deliberations 
of tliat body. In 1860, he was elected a State Senator, and as such 
served four years in the Legislative Assembly of Oregon. 

On the 27th of November, 1863, Mr. Kelly was married to Miss 
Mary B. Millar, of Oregon, a daughter of the late Reverend James 
P. Millar, of Argyle, Washington county, New- York, where she 
was born. In 1864, Mr. Kelly was nominated by the Democratic 
State Convention their candidate for Congress; and although at 
the time no hopes of his election were entertained either by Mr. 
Kelly or the members of the convention, yet he made a canvass of 
the whole State with his opponent, Hon. J. H. D. Henderson, and 
greatly reduced the Kepublican majority of the former election. 
In 1866, he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Ore- 
gon, and was, according to the official count, defeated by two 
hundred and seventy-seven votes, although the majority against 
him was less than that number, being increased by the fraudulent 
rejection of many votes given in his favor. 

On the 20th of September, 1870, Mr. Kelly was elected by the 
Legislative Assembly of Oregon, United States Senator for the 
term of six years, commencing March 4, 1871. On taking his seat, 
he was appointed by the Senate a member of the Commitee on the 
Pacific Railroad, the Committee on Post-Oftices and Post-Eoads, 
and the Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills. 



222 



MATT "W. RANSOM, 




•ATT W. EANSOM was born in "Warren County, North 
Carolina, October 8, 1826. He received an academic 
education preparatory to entering college, and became a 
student in the University of North Carolina, where he graduated 
in 1847. Having a taste for legal studies, he had, while a student 
in the University, prepared himself for the bar, to which he was 
admitted soon after his graduation, and practiced his profession 
with great success. 

He was elected to the Attorney Generalship of North Carolina 
in 1852, by a Legislature a majority of whicli was politically op- 
posed to him. He performed the important duties devolving upon 
him in this position with credit, and resigned the office in 1855. 
For tliree years succeeding he devoted himself witli assiduity to his 
private business, at the same time, however, taking no inconsider- 
able interest in public and political affairs. In 1858 he once more 
appeared in public life — this time as a member of the State Legis- 
lature at Raleigh. He served in that body during that year and 
the two succeeding, obtaining a high reputation for attention to 
the interests of his constituents and devotion to the public busi- 
ness — especially the promotion of the finances and internal im- 
provements of the State. 

He was opposed to secession, and earnestly endeavored to pro- 
mote peaceful relations between the embittered sections. He was 
sent as a Peace Commissioner from tlie State of North Carolina to 
the Congress of the Southern States convened at Montgomery, 
Alabama, in 1861. All efforts to promote peace and good will 
between the North and South proved futile, and the war broke 
with furv upon the country. Mr. Ransom being, by birth, educa- 

223 



2 MATT W. RANSOM. 

tion, and feeling, a Southern man, cast in liis lot with the Confed- 
erate States and entered the Southern army. He served as lieu- 
tenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general. The 
close of the war in 1865 found him with General Lee, and witli 
him he surrendered at Appomattox. He then returned to his 
estate in North Carolina, and engaged again in his pursuits as a 
planter and lawyer. He was identified with the Democratic party, 
although not seeking to act a prominent part in politics. Cover- 
nor Vance, who had been elected Senator from North Carolina, 
having been declared by the United States Senate ineligible, Mr. 
Ransom was elected to the position in January, 1872, and took his 
seat, on the twenty-fourth of the following April, for the term 
ending in 1877. 

He entered upon his duties as a United States Senator with 
characteristic energy, devoting himself with industry to promoting 
the interests of his constituency. He labored faithfully to secure 
amnesty and the removal of political disabilities, and made sincere 
efforts to restore peace to the whole country. In person he is tall 
and of fine presence, with unusually agreeable manners. 

224 



ELI SAULSBURT. 




LI SAULSBURr was born in Kent county, Delaware, 
December 29, 1817. He attended common and select 
schools, and pursued an irregular course of study at Dickin- 
son College, Pennsylvania. He studied law, and practiced 
the profession in Dover. In 1853 and 1854:, he was a member of the 
Legislature of Delaware. He was elected as a Democrat to the United 
States Senate, to succeed his brother, Hon. Willard Saulsbury, and 
took his seat March 4, 1871, for the term ending in 1877. He was 
appointed to the Committee on Pensions, the Committee on Mines 
and Mining, and the committee to audit and control the contingent 
expenses of the Senate. 

On taking his seat in the Senate, Mr. Saulsbury began imme- 
diately to take an active part in the proceedings of that body. In 
a brief speech, delivered April 7, 1871, pending the resolution re- 
ported by the Joint Committee on Southern disorders, he opposed the 
investigation into the alleged outrages in the Southern States, be- 
lieving that no good would result to the country from such investi- 
gation, and no information be thus aiForded to the Senate that 
would enable it to ofter the people remedy. He deprecated the 
expense that would he involved, and asserted that the measure was 
intended for political purposes only, while it would accomplish for 
the country no good whatever. 

In a much more extended speech, delivered April 12, in Com- 
mittee of the Whole pending the consideration of the bill to enforce 
the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, Mr. Saulsbury took 
strong ground against that measure also, arraigning with much 
severity the bearing and conduct of the Republican Party and the 
administration. ook 



2 ELISAULSBURY. 

On the 30th of January, 1872, Mr. Saiilsbury delivered an able 
speech in favor of the removal of political disabilities. " I would 
be glad," said he, " to strike the fetters from every arm that is 
bound, and once more lift into the sunlight of freedom every man 
who is now fettered by the provisions of the Fourteenth Constitu- 
tional Amendment." He opposed the amendment proposed by 
Mr. Sumner, securing equal rights to negroes. " I do protest," 
said he, " against this persistent effort to drag down the race to 
which I belong to a level with a race stamped with inferiority by 
the Author of their being." 

A Senator having commended to Mr. Saulsbury the Eeport of 
the Committee on Alleged Southern Outrages as "profitable, if not 
pleasant reading" for tlie next Sunday, he responded : " I certainly 
would be inclined to avail myself of any suggestion of the honor- 
able Senator from Indiana in reference to what is profitable reading 
for the Sabbath, but he must excuse me if I see jjroper to turn to 
the pages of the old Bible in preference to the report of this com- 
mittee." The religious element is strong in the character of Mr. 
Saulsbury, and appears prominently in many of his speeches. " I 
like the word 'mercy,' " said he in his Amnesty' speecli. " It is a 
charming word. It is the sweetest that ever fell on mortal ears. 
Through all the ages past Mercy has been tlie guardian angel of 
our race. When Justice barred the gates of Paradise against our 
federal head and all his race, it was Mercy that intervened and 
plead the cause of erring man," In the same speech, while de- 
claring that the effect of Mr. Sumner's Supplementary Civil Rights 
bill would be the iufusiou of negroes into the churches, which 
would result in their lieing closed, and the ministers dismissed, he 
added, "that the Chnrcli will be destroyed tlicre need be no fear, 
for it is written that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it ; 
yet that it may be annoyed, and perplexed, and persecuted all his- 
tory attests." 

Mr. Saulsbury is tall and slender in person, with a scholarly stoop 
in his shoulders. He is pure in his character, true to his principles, 
and faithful to his State. 

226 




• V;i~..c-'--^'- .' '- . Tvi-i J* 



JnJu^ 



L 



JOHN W. STEYENSOE". 




OHNW. STEVENSON was born in Richmond, Virginia, 
May 4, 1812. His mother, who died at his birth, was 
a danghter of John Wliite, of the County of Hanover. 
His grandmother was a daughter of Carter Braxton, one of tlie 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father, Andrew 
Stevenson, was a member of the Legislature for many years, and 
was Speaker of the House of Delegates. He was engaged in the 
practice of his profession in Eichmond, where, though a young 
man, he held an enviable rank at the bar. He devoted the greatest 
care to the early education of his son, giving him the advantage of 
private tuition, under his own immediate supervision. When, in 
1821, he went to Congress as a representative from Virginia, he 
took with him his son, that his education might be conducted under 
his direction. At "Washington, he was consigned to the care of 
John McLeod, a teacher of high repute, who fitted him for Hamp- 
den Sidney College, which he entered at fourteen years of age. 
There he remained until the end of his sophomore year, when he 
was entered in the TJniversity of Virginia, and in that institution 
he finished his collegiate education, at the age of eighteen. After 
he left the university, his father placed him under the care of the 
Hon. Willoughb}' Newton, of "Westmoreland County, Virginia, with 
whom he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. 

During this period of his life, John W. Stevenson had many ad- 
vantages in his association with the distinguished statesmen of his 
country. With Jefierson and Madison he was a favorite ; and the 
time he spent, almost as a member of their families, in their society, 
produced a most marked influence on his character. He received 
from both the most admirable suggestions as to his course in life. 

Enjoying familiar intercourse with men who had contributed so 

227 



JOHN W. STEVENSON. 



much to define the principles of colonial, confederate, aTid constitu- 
tional law, John W. Stevenson was educated by these statesmen in 
the truest and purest teachings of American politics. Enjoying 
these rare advantages, and with a mind fresh from the acquire- 
ments of his collegiate education, these teachings of " the fathers " 
of the country made tliose indelible impressions which have had a 
marked effect upon his whole subsequent life. It is not too much 
to say of him, tliat his power at the bar, in the halls of legislation, 
in deliberative bodies, has much of its effect from the training he re- 
ceived at Montpelier and Monticello, where his opening mind was 
impressed by the wisdom, experience, and earnest faith of these 
great statesmen. It was Mr. Madison who advised Mr. Stevenson 
to leave Virginia and settle in the West. He at once followed this 
advice, and left liis home, and family and friends, and located himself 
ill Vicksburg, Mississippi. There he began the practice of the law. 
It was a severe struggle. The law of the forum was less sought 
after by the indigent population of this new settlement than the 
law of demand and supply of the actual necessaries of life. A few 
months were sufficient to demonstrate that success at the bar would 
be too tardy in Vicksburg, and Mr. Stevenson removed to Covington, 
■Kentucky, in 18-iO. The choice of a location, and the time it was 
determined upon, were both fortunate. Covington was then a grow- 
ing, vigorous, and increasingly-important town, whose population 
presented a phase of social and industrial progress which made Mr. 
Stevenson's choice of a home eminentlj^ advantageous to him. He 
at once entered upon his professional life in his adopted residence. 
Very soon it was made apparent to the people that Mr. Stevenson 
possessed all those qualities which were essential in a leader of 
public opinion, and an exponent and defender of those principles of 
government which Virginia liad expounded and Kentucky indorsed 
and sustained in tlie first trials of the constitution of the United 
States, after its adoption and dui-ing its earliest operation as the ex- 
periment of American liberty with law. During all these years of 
Mr. Stevenson's life lie was receiving, from time to time, the coun- 
sel of his father and his friends in Virginia. Andrew Stevenson 

was then one of the foremost men in the councils of the country. 

228 



JOHN W.STEVENSON. 3 

In 1821, lie was first elected to Congress, where lie remained as 
Virginia's representative till 1834. From 1827 to the expiration of 
his last term in Congress he was its Speaker. It was in these memo- 
rable years that Livingston, Stevenson, Ritchie, of the " Richmond 
Enquirer," and Mr. Blair, of the " Globe," were among the chosen 
confidential advisers of Andrew Jackson. The " veto message," the 
"proclamation" against nullification, and those great state papers 
of that renowned sage and soldier-Pi-esident, were either elaborated 
or finished by the pens of these giants in the political contests of 
those times. So signal and so highly appreciated were the services 
of Andrew Stevenson that he was sent to represent the United 
States at the British court, from 1836 to 1841, where he rose to the 
first rank among the envoys and ambassadors who made the court 
of St. James, at the beginning of Victoria's reign, so remarkable. 
It is not, then, to be overlooked, that John W. Stevenson was 
ripening, under the instruction he had received and was still receiv- 
ing, into a lawyer and a statesman of admitted ability and growing 
preeminence. 

The few years John W. Stevenson had been a citizen of Coving- 
ton made for him the character which was so well suited to his 
future. In 1845, he was elected to the Legislature of Kentucky, 
and reelected in 1846 and 1847. His service in the Legislature 
gave evidence of his ability and preparation for the duties attend- 
ing this responsibility. So marked was his capacity, and so efficient 
were his services, that he left the Legislature with a high character 
and large popularity. This was shown by the people in 1849, when 
he was elected to the convention which was charged with the duty 
of altering and amending the constitution of the State. In this 
convention Mr. Stevenson took a leading position. His line of 
study, his acquirements, his thorough grounding in the principles 
of government, gave him a power in that convention which its 
proceedings show. In 1844, 1848, 1852, and in 1856, he was re- 
elected as a representative in the national conventions of the Demo- 
cratic Party, and twice he was senatorial elector for Kentucky. 
Such services, and the manner he always acquitted himself, rendered 
his name a commanding influence in his State and before the coun- 

229 



4 JOHN W. STEVENSON. 

try. He was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the 
criminal and civil code of Kentucky, and performed the duty thus 
devolving upon him to the satisfaction of the bar, the bench, and 
the people. 

Mr. Stevenson was elected a representative from Kentucky to the 
Thirty -fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses. In this sphere of public 
service he maintained his well-earned reputation. In debate he 
was impressive, and held the attention of the House by his power 
of condensation, his strong and powerful presentation of his views, 
and his faith in his political principles. 

During the civil war, Mr. Stevenson was consistent, dignified, and 
true to the teachings of his youth. Endeared to the people of his 
State by his devotion to their interests while in their service, he was 
chosen by them as lieutenant-governor in 1867, and in the follow- 
ing year he was elected governor. While filling the executive 
chair of Kentucky, he was subjected to severe tests, both of admin- 
istrative capacity and thorough statesmanship. The geographical 
position of the State, its past history, the trials the people were 
forced to undergo, and the anomalous condition of the relations of 
a State with the federal government which arose out of the civil 
war, made the duties of his oflice more serious and complicated 
than those of any other State. 

Tried as he was, he proved equal to all the exigencies. His mes- 
sages, his public addresses, his care of the rights of the State, the 
interests and welfare of the people, his prudence and judgment, 
force of character and unbending integrity, are parts of the history 
of KentTicky. 

Near the close of his term of service as governor, the Legislature, 
representing the people of the State, witnesses as its members 
were to his signal ability, courage, and force in the executive de- 
partment, determined to seal with their approval an official life 
which had so won their admiration. At the session of the Legisla- 
ture in 1870, he was elected to represent Kentucky in the Senate of 
the United States, and resigning just before the term of governor 
expired, he took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March, 1871. 

230 





HON JOSEPH R.WE ST, 



JOSEPH R. WEST. 




' OSEPH EODMAN WEST was born in tlie city of I^ew- 
Orleans, Louisiana, September 19, 1822. At an early age 
he was talcen North by his parents, and at fourteen entered 
tlie Pennsylvania University. He did not, however, ad- 
vance to graduation, but at tlie end of two years, withdrew from 
the university, and returned to New-Orleans. At the breaking 
out of the Mexican war, he entered the army as a private, and rose 
to the rank of captain of cavalry. 

On the return of peace. Captain West emigrated to California. 
Here he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was one of the origi- 
nators of the " Price Current " of San Francisco, and, for a number 
of years, one of its principal editors. At the commencement of the 
war of the Rebellion, he entered the Union service as lieutenant- 
colonel of a regiment of California cavalry, and marched, with his 
regiment, a distance of fifteen hundred miles over the plains to 
Western Texas. He also, during the war, served in important 
movements in Arkansas and the South-west, and was promoted, step 
by step, until he attained the rank of brigadier-general of volun- 
teers, and was breveted major-general. 

At the end of the war, General West settled temporarily in 
Texas ; l^ut at the appointment of General Herron as United States. 
Marshal, he accepted the place of chief -deputy marslial for the 
New-Orleans district, retaining the position during General llerron's 
entire term of office. Shortly afterward he was, under the new 
city charter, appointed by Governor Warmoth administrator of im- 
provements, this being one of the most important of the municipal 
positions created by the law. Here the people had the opportunity 
of observing his official acts, the untiring industry, tlie promptness 

231 



^• 



2 JOSEPH R. WEST. 

and correctness of decision, and the comprehensive ability that 
have earned for him tlie reputation of being one of the best execu- 
tive men of the State. As chief of a great department, he had few 
equals, and scarcely a superior. He is a staunch supporter of the 
Union of the States under the constitution, and strongly attached to 
the principles of the Republican Party as a means of such union and 
of the prosperity of the country. 

His party in Louisiana gave the highest indorsement to his abili- 
ties and principles by electing him to the Senate of the United 
States, in which body he took his seat March 4, 1871, for the term 
of six years. On the occasion of his election to this high office, the 
press of the county gave cordial approval of the selection, and ex- 
pression of hopes of his success and usefulness in the national coun 
cils. " He is possessed," says the " New-Oi'leans Picayune," " of 
remarkable administrative abilities ; and, if we may judge of him 
in the more elevated position to which he has been called, by his 
course in our city coimcil, we are assured that he will be fully 
equal to any emergency that may arise." " He will prove," says 
another journal, " an able and valuable member of that highly 
dignified and respectable body of men, and guard with jealous care 
the interests committed to his trust." 

General West's residence for a time in California has been 
already alluded to ; and on his election to the Senate, the following 
commendatory words were heard from that distant State : 

" In Senator West we are certain to find a warm and intelligent 
friend, who will exercise much influence in procuring desiral)le legis- 
lation for this coast, as well as for the important State he has been 
called upon to represent. ... As a senator, we have no hesitation 
in predicting that he will make an honorable record, even among 
the more experienced and able of his associates. California will 
find a true, consistent, and influential friend in Joseph Rodman 
West." 

232 



WILLIAM WINDOM. 




rILLIAM WINDOM was born in Belmont County, Ohio, 
May 10, 1827. He received an academical education, 
studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He 
was elected prosecuting-attorney for Knox County, Ohio, in 1852. 
In 1856 he removed to Minnesota, making his home in Winona, 
where he engaged in the practise of law and in political pursuits. 
He soon attracted the attention and acquired the confidence of the 
people of his adopted State, and was elected a Representative from 
Minnesota to the Thirty-sixth Congress, in which he served on the 
Committee on Public Lands, and on the Special Committee of 
Thirty-tln-ee on the rebellious States. Re-elected to the Thirty- 
seventh Congress, he served on the Committee on Public Expendi- 
tures. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was chairman of tiie Cora- 
■ mittee on Indian Afi'airs, and of the Special Committee to visit the 
Indian tribes of the West. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, served on the Committee on the death of President 
Lincoln, and was chairman of a Special Committee on the conduct 
of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He was re-elected to the 
Fortieth Congress, receiving 13,961 votes against 8,021 for the 
Democratic candidate. In his capacity as chairman of the Comnlit- 
teeon Indian Affairs, he introduced and advocated several measures 
relating to that important subject. He secured tiie passage in the 
House of a bill originating in the Senate designed " to establisli 
peace with certain hostile Indian tribes,"' with which the United 
States were at war at an expense of $1,000,000 per week. He op- 
posed a bill, which passed the House, restoring the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs to the War Department. At the close of the Fortieth Con- 
gress Mr. Windom declined a re-election. 

233 



2 WILLIAM WINDOM. 

Soon after the close of his service in the House of Representa- 
tives, Mr. Windom was elected to the Senate of the United 
States, and took his seat on the 4th of March, 1871. His first 
speech in that body was a brief expression of his approval 
of an appropriation for the subsistence of certain Indians "who 
have been collected and located upon the reservation set apart 
for their use and occupation by the treaties made with them in 
1867." In support of this appropriation he said : " For several 
j^ears, while Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs in the 
other House, I struggled for the adoption of the policy to feed 
rather than fight the Indians. I have been exceedingly gratified 
with the results of the policy so far, as they have been tested by 
this Administration. I think that in nothing has it shown its wisdom 
more than in this policy-. I should be very unwilling now to return 
to the old method of fighting, by failing to keep our agreement 
with the Indians. ... So far as the management of Indians is con- 
cerned I have always been a Quaker ; I am so to-day ; and I be- 
lieve that if we continue the policy which is adopted we shall be 
freed from Indian wars in the future. Let us not return to the bad 
policy of the past." 

Mr. Windom introduced a bill to prevent the destruction of tim- 
ber on lands of the United States. In his remarks, March 7, 1872, 
advocating an appropriation for the employment of additional 
clerks in the General Land Oflice, Mr. Windom said : " The set- 
tlement, population, and improvement of our public lands is of 
vtist importance. I believe we are all agreed in the advocacy of 
any policy that will tend to the settlement and development of our 
great public domain. . . . Now if we desire to encourage the settle- 
ment of these lands, let us give to the office that has to do with 
their settlement all the necessary force that may be called for in 
order to promote their settlement." 

He advocated the passage of the Soldiers and Sailors' Home- 
stead Bill. Though seldom indulging in set speeches, he has made 
brief and pertinent remarks upon most of the important subjects 

of legislation. 

234 





riuil. i.lhuXCri-, i..,vVHlGHT. 
SENATOR from: IOWA- 



GEOEGE G. WRIGHT. 



EORGE G. WRIGHT was born in Bloomington, Indi- 
ana, March 2i, 1820. He was a cripple from the age of 

f Jji- ^'our years, and unable to attend school, except occasionally, 
until he was near twelve. He becaine a student in the State 
University at his native place, being one of two scholars sent under 
a State law which allowed that number of free pupils from each 
county. His father had died when he was five years old, and his 
two older brothers assumed all his expenses except that of tuition, 
his mother being unable to help him, as she had a large family. 
After his graduation he studied law with one of these brothers, 
Hon. Joseph A. Wright, who was afterward Governor of Indiana, 
a Senator in Congress, and American Minister at Berlin. 

In October, 1840, Mr. Wright removed to Keosauqua, Iowa, and 
began the practice of his profession. He remained in this place 
until 1865, when he removed to Ues Moines, where he has since 
resided. His practice extended all through what is known as the 
Des Moines valley, comprising some fourteen counties lying on both 
sides of the river, a hundred and twenty miles in length and fifty 
miles in width. Journeys were made on horseback, and in every 
way known to frontier life, and were attended with many stirring 
incidents. 

In 1847 and 1848 he was Prosecuting Attorney. In 1849 he 
was elected to the State Senate, in which he served two terms. In 
his second term he was the only Whig who held the chairmanship 
of a Committee, as the Democrats had a majority. He was the 
only Whig upon the important Committee having in charge the 
Code of 1851, which was adopted at that session owing largely to Mr. 
Wright's strenuous exertions. In 1850 he was nominated for Rep- 
resentative in Congress, greatly against his own wishes, and was 

2.S5 



2 GEORGE G. WRIGHT. 

defeated, tlie district being strongly Democratic. The usual 
majority, howevei', was greatly decreased. In 185i he was chosen 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iowa. In 1860, the Consti- 
tution having been changed, he was elected to the same office by 
the people, and was re-elected in 1865. 

He was for five years President of the Iowa State Agricultural 
Society, beginning in 1860, and for about the same length of time 
was President of the County Society in Van Buren County, where 
he lived. He was a professor in the law department of the Iowa 
State University for six years, beginning in 1865. His nomination 
for Judge was made with unanimity, and during the whole time 
that he served the people he never ran behind the other candidates 
on the tickets in any election. In aid of benevolent, agricultural, 
and literary societies, he has given many lectures and addresses on 
various subjects pertaining to the State and its history, and on legal 
and other topics. 

He was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, and 
took his seat March 4, 1871, for the term ending in 1877. He was 
appointed a member of the Committee on Finance and the Com- 
mittee on Claims. In the second session of the Forty-second Con- 
gress he was appointed on the Committee on Revision of the Laws, 
and on the Special Committee to investigate the charges against 
Senator Clayton, of Arkansas. He is one of the most pains- 
taking and laborious membei-s of the Senate. His speeches on the 
most important questions pending in the Senate uniformly evince 
careful preparation, laborious research, and strong argumentative 
ability. 

236 



GEORGE GOLDTHWAITE. 




EOEGE GOLDTHWAITE was born in Boston, Massa- 
cluisetts, December 10, 1809. He received an academic 
education in the schools of his native city. He removed 
to Alabama, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1827. 
He was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, in 1843, by the Legis- 
lature, and was re-elected to the same office by the people in 1850. 
In the following year he was appointed one of a commission of three 
to prepare a Code of Laws for Alabama, which was reported to and 
accepted by the Legislature of 1852. 

He was elected Judge of the Supreme Court in 1851, but re- 
signed in 1853 to allow the court to be reorganized. He was re- 
elected by the Legislature, and was subsequently Chief-Justice of 
the State of Alabama. He resigned in 1856, and resumed the 
practice of law. 

Upon the passage of the ordinance of Secession by Alabama in 
January, 1861, Mr. Goldthwaite was appointed Adjutant General 
of the State, which position he held during the war. He was 
elected Circuit Judge in 1866, and occupied the bench until 1868, 
when he was removed under the Reconstruction Acts. He then 
resumed the successful practice of the law. On the 7th of Decem- 
ber, 1870, he was elected to the United States Senate, as a Demo- 
crat, for the term ending March 3, 1877. Near the beginning of 
the second session of the Forty-second Congress his case was acted 
on by the Committee on Privileges and Elections, who recom- 
mended that he be admitted to his seat immediately on thejpn'wa 
facie evidence furnished by his certificate of election. The case, 
however, went over until after the holidays, when the Senate voted 
to admit him, and he was sworn in on the 15th of January, 1872. 

237 



RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 



4^r ICHARD JAMES OGLESBY was born in Oldham 
i^% County, Kentucky, July 25, 1820. He came to Illinois 



^/^i- when he was about twelve years old, settling at Decatur, 
winch ever since has been his home. Both of his parents died be- 
fore he had arrived at an age to appreciate a mother's love or profit 
by a fether's advice and aid. His early life was passed in a country 
and in a time in which education, in its present significance, had 
not become popular, and he never had the advantage of so much 
as eighteen months of schooling in the whole course of his life. At 
the age of sixteen years he returned to his native county ^where he 
learned the carpenter's trade, and afterward worked at it in 
Decatur until the year 1844. 

He then commenced the study of law with Judge Robins, of 
Springfield, and began the practice at Sullivan, Illinois. His 
professional duties were soon interrupted, however, by the Mexican 
war, and returning to Decatur he was active in raising a company, 
of which he was elected first lieutenant. He took part in the siege 
of Vera Cruz, and commanded his company at Cerro Gordo, show- 
ing throughout the campaign that spirit and bravery which dis- 
tinguished him in the greater war of later years. 

Returning from the Mexican war Oglesby took a full law course, 
and received his diploma at the Louisville Law School. He then 
developed an ardent desire for travel ahd adventure. He crossed 
the plains to California at a time when such an undertaking was 
hazardous. He subsequently visited Europe, Egypt, and the 
Holy Land. 

Oglesby's political career began in 1852, wlien he was an Rector 
on the Whig ticket. In 1858 he was a Republican candidate for 

238 





d/i 



RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 2 

Congress against Hon. James C. Robinson, and reduced the stand- 
ard Democratic majority by several tliousand. In 1860 he was 
elected to the State Senate, but resigned his seat in 1861 to volun- 
teer his services in the war against the rebellion. He was commis- 
sioned Colonel of the Eighth Illinois regiment, and was from the 
first among the most active and successful commanders in the 
"Western armies, always holding responsible positions above 
his rank. 

Colonel Oglesby first commanded the forces stationed at Cairo, 
Illinois, and then those at Bird's Point, Missouri. He joined in 
the general movement made by Grant against the rebel army at 
Belmont. Transferred to the command of a brigade in the army 
of West Tennessee, he was the first to enter Fort Henry, and led 
the advance to Fort Donelson through the sharpest skirmishing of 
the war. On the 15th of February, 1862, his command was at- 
tacked by the rebel army, and lost one fifth of its number in its 
gallant resistance. After the evacuation of Corinth Colonel 
Oglesby commanded an entire division for several months ; but on 
the return of the commanding ofiicer he took charge of his own 
brigade, and led it into the terrible battle of Corinth, on the 3d 
of October, 1862. From this battlefield Colonel Oglesby was 
carried, as it seemed, in a dying condition. A ball had entered 
his left lung, whence it has never yet been extracted. For his 
gallant conduct in this battle he was promoted at once from a 
colonelcy to the rank of major-general, above his superiors in 
command. He returned to the field as soon as he was able to do 
so, but the pains from his wound were so acute that he was com- 
pelled to tender his resignation. This was accepted six months 
afterward, when it was apparent that he could no longer endure 
the hardships of the campaign. 

The people of Illinois paid an immediate and hearty tribute to 
the patriotism of General Oglesby by electing him Governor of 
the State by the largest majority ever given for any ofiicer. He 
was inaugurated Governor on the 16th of January, 1865, for the 
term of four years. The unanimity of the choice was gracefully 

239 



3 RICHARD J. 0GLE8BY. 

recognized in liis inaugural address : " I do not disguise the fact," 
he said, " nor do I desire to do so, that I have been chosen to tliis 
high position by the Union people of our State without regard to 
party, and am expected by them to administer its executive aifairs 
with a view to no partisan or selfish purposes, and thus relieved of 
many of the burdens which usually attend a mere party triumph, 
am left free with you to follow the path of duty ])ointed out so 
clearly that I hope to be able to adliere to it." 

Governor Oglesby in his administration fulfilled the promise of 
his inaugural. His term was one of the most trying and exacting, 
but he gave entire satisfaction to the people who elected him. 

At the close of his gubernatorial term he retired to private life 
at Decatur, Illinois, but was not suffered long to remain apart from 
public affairs. In May, 1872, he was again nominated for Gov- 
ernor, to which office he was elected by a majority of more than 
forty-one thousand votes. He was inaugurated Governor on the 
13th of January, 1873. On the 22d of the same month he was 
elected to the United States Senate, receiving one hundred and 
nineteen votes against eighty-six for Hon. Lyman Trumbull, and 
on the following day he resigned the office of Governor. He en- 
tered upon his duties as United States Senator on the 4th of 
March, 1873, and was appointed on the committees on Public 
Lands, Indian Affairs, and Pensions. 

240 




-f---'yijj.l£cil i- J"lJ1v6^'" 



'■...:s'H7 




WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 



||WILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Perry, Wayne 
i^ County, Ohio, March 2, 1829. He passed his boyhood 
on his father's farm. He received the rudiments of learnino- bv 
attending the common school in the winter, work on the farm re- 
quiring his attention during the summer. In his youth and early 
manhood, however, he had the advantages of a liberal course of 
education, pursuing his studies at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, 
and at Western Eeserve College, Ohio. He was a diligent student, 
and while making proficiency in the regular studies of college 
found time to read extensively in history and general literature. 

Upon the completion of his collegiate course he resolved to make 
the law his profession, and after a more thorough course than usual 
was admitted to the practice. After practicing with success in 
Ohio for a few years, in 1857 he removed to Dubuque, Iowa. The 
financial crisis of that year was peculiarly disastrous in Iowa. 
There were at that time no banks in the State. They had been 
prohibited by law, and hence the State was the receptacle of all 
the worthless bank-notes of the country. When the "wild cat" 
institutions blew up with the tremendous crash of 1857, the people 
of Iowa had their pockets and coffers full of bank-notes, but no 
money. There was absolute distress in hundreds of families inde- 
pendently rich but a short time before the crisis. The city of 
Dubuque shared in the general misfortune. It was a dark day for 
beginning life in a new home, but Mr. Allison was not discouraged 
by the gloomy outlook. Skillful in his profession, attentive to his 
duties, and affable to all, he soon had all the business he desired. 

In politics he was an earnest, active Eepublican, but was in the 
minority in Dubuque, and had little opportunity for distinction. 

241 



2 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 

In 1860, however, he was chosen one of the delegates to attend the 
Republican National Convention at Chicago, when he aided in the 
nomination of Abraham Lincoln. In 1862 he was nominated for 
Eepresentative in Congress. He made a thorough canvass of the 
district, speaking in all the counties, numbering not less than 
twelve, and in some of them more than once. His majority was 
three thousand six hundred and sixty in a vote of about twenty- 
one thousand. 

Mr. Allison was the youngest man in the delegation, which num- 
bered six, and the only one without actual experience in legislative 
bodies or public office. Encouraged by the hearty friendship of 
his colleagues, and by that of several distinguished representatives 
from other States, he entered upon his duties with zeal, and witli 
stndious habits whicli have never been laid aside, and which have 
given him remarkable success as a legislator. Mr. Allison sustained 
all the great measures brought forward in the Thirty-eighth Con- 
gress for the carrying on of the war, and for the development of 
the country, especially of the North-west. He procured the land 
grant lor a railway through Iowa, westward from M'Gregor. He 
also introduced a bill for the improvement of the navigation of the 
Mississippi, and at length succeeded in having the measure adopted. 
In all the political contests of the period he voted for the most rad- 
ical measures, and against every bill or resolution looking to the 
adoption of rose-water warfare against the rebels. He voted for 
those great measures of freedom passed by this Congress — the 
repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the resolution for the Thir- 
teenth Constitutional Amendment. Against extravagance in every 
shape he gave his vote without deviation. 

During the first session of this Congress he made a set speech 
upon the bill relating to homesteads on forfeited estates. It was 
an evening session. He had a fine audience, and made a good im- 
pression both on House and galleries. He took ground in favor 
of every measure for the suppression of the Rebellion, which the 
most radical Republicans had believed necessary, including the 
measure under direct discussion. " If we hope to attain success in 

242 



WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 



3 



this contest," he remarked near the close of his speech, " we must 
guaranty to all the privileges of religion, of family, of property, 
and of liberty." 

Mr. Allison was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress by a 
majority of about three thousand votes. He was assigned a place 
on the Committee of Ways and Means, aud was, durino- the entire 
time of his subsequent service in tlie House, one of the most 
laborious and efBeieut workers on that committee, a membership of 
which ranks about with the chairmanship of most other commit- 
tees. Entirely familiar witli all the financial measures >f the Gov- 
ernment, having a thorough knowledge of their practical results, 
and knowing, by attentive observation, the commercial, material, 
and general business interests of the country, he was frequently 
designated by the Committee to take charge of important measures 
recommended for passage. His speech on the Loan Bill, and that 
on the trade of British America, made during the first session of 
this Congress, showed a thorough knowledge of trade and finance. 
We find him in this Congress successfully speaking in favor of the 
improvement of the Mississippi Eiver, for which he had himself 
introduced a bill, and in favor of the Niagara Ship Canal. We 
find him also favoring a wiser and better administration of the 
affairs of the Agricultural Department, the placing of agricultural 
implements on the free list, and in other ways manifesting a special 
regard for that great industry of the country in which he was born 
and nurtured. We find him speaking earnestly for cadical measures 
of general policy, advocating and voting for the Fourteenth Consti- 
tutional Amendment, for the Civil Eights Bill, and the Freedmen's 
Bureau Bill. It was a period of great political excitement, the 
conflict between the Executive and the Legislative Departments 
of the Government being carried to the pitch of fury on the part 
of President Johnson, and with the firmest determination on the 
part of Congress. Throughout this remarkable contest Mr. Allison 
was undisguisedly outspoken in hostility to the President and his 
policy of reconstruction. 

Mr. Allison was renominated by his party for the third time in 

243 



4 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 

1866, and was elected over a popular competitor by a majority of 
five thousand votes. When the question of impeachment came up 
Mr. Allison took emphatic grounds in favor of the measui'e, making 
an able speech on the subject on the 24th of February, 1868. 

The opposition had begun to make war on the Kepublicans for 
their management of the public finances. Subjects of this kind were 
the chief matters of discussion in the Presidential campaign of 
1868. Mr. Allison's speech on the finances, and the frauds and 
peculations of many then holding ofiice under Mr. Johnson, had 
as much circulation and influence in the campaign as any other 
document. After a very exciting canvass Mr. Allison was re- 
elected a Representative to the Forty-first Congress by a majority 
of six thousand votes. One of his most successful speeches during 
this Congress was delivered March 24 and 25 on the Tariff". Al- 
though he did not advocate free-trade, he favored certain re- 
forms in the tariif laws, which were substantially incorporated in 
legislation. 

Kefusing to be again a candidate for Representative in Congress 
Mr. Allison returned to his home in Dubuque, where he engaged 
in various business enterprises tending to develop the resources of 
the city and the State. He was not, however, permitted to reujain 
long in retirement. In January, 18Y3, he was elected to the Senate 
of the United States, to succeed Hon. James Harlan, and on the 
4th of March took his seat in that body for the term ending in 1879. 
He was appointed on the Committees on Appropriations, Indian 
Afi"airs, and the Library. 

Mr. Allison has a fine personal presence, with keen black eyes, 
and a pleasant expression. His head is large and well formed. 
His manners are agreeable, and his bearing such as to command 
respect. Every part of his public career and private life bears tes- 
timony to the fact that he is an honest and true man. 



244 



LEWIS V. BOGY. 




< EWIS V. BOGY was born in St. Genevieve County, Mis- 
souri, April 9, 1813. His mother's family, of the name of 
Beauvais, were among the earliest settlers in Missouri. His 
father, Joseph Bogy, who was of Scotch descent, was a 
native of Kaskaskia, Illinois. He filled tlie responsible position of 
private secretary to Governor Morales, while the States of Louisiana 
and Missouri were Under the Spanish domination. When Missouri 
became a territory he was chosen a member of the Territorial 
Council. When it was admitted into the Union he was elected 
to the Legislature ; and for many years he was Cashier of the old 
Bank of Missouri at St. Genevieve. 

Lewis learned the rudiments of education under a Swiss instructor 
who kept the little school of St. Genevieve. Much of his time was 
spent in working on the farm, until he was attacked by a malady 
which rendered him unfit for labor. While he was thus disabled 
and suffering from "white swelling" he carefully cultivated his 
mind and read all the books he could obtain. In 1830 he took 
the situation of clerk in a store at a salary of two hundred dollars 
per annum, one half of which he contracted to take out in trade. 
However, from the frugality of his habits he managed to purchase 
some books from his income. He read by snatches of time some 
elementary books of law, and resolutely undertook the study of the 
Latin language, under the instruction of Father Condamine, an ac- 
complished scholar. 

In January, 1832, he went to Kaskaskia, and read law in the 
office of Judge Pope until May of that year. He volunteered for 
the Black Hawk War, was engaged in two desperate battles with 
the Indians, and was present at the capture of Black Hawk. After 

245 



2 LEWIS V. BOGY. 

the conclusion of the Indian campaign Mr. Bogy returned to Kas- 
kaskia, where he continued the study of law until 1833, when he 
M'ent to Lexington, Kentucky, and further prosecuted his studies at 
Transylvania University, under the instruction of Judge Mays, an 
eminent jurist of that day. In the spring of 1834 he commenced 
teaching a country school so as to liquidate the debt he had con- 
tracted while studying in the winter, and also to gather resources to 
complete his course. This he accomplished, and, returning to Mis- 
souri in the spring of 1835, he settled in the city of St. Louis, where 
he commenced the practice of his profession. From the very first 
Mr. Bogy was successful as a lawyer, and the first fees he received 
from his clients he sent to Judge Mays to discharge a debt due for 
instruction. 

Mr. Bogy was elected to the State Legislature" in 1840. He also 
served in that body in 1854-5, and made an effective speech on the 
passage of the liaih'oad Law, which Governor Price vetoed, but 
which was passed over the veto mainly because of that speech. 

In 1847 he purchased an interest in Pilot Knob, the richest iron 
deposit in Missouri. Owing to its great distance — forty-seven miles 
from the Mississippi — many owning shares in the corporation be- 
came discouraged and disposed of their interest, which Mr. Bogy 
immediately purchased. The Iron Mountain Railroad, in which 
the Pilot Knob Iron Company iilvested fifty thousand dollars, 
was built to Pilot Knob, and had much to do in developing the re- 
sources of the region. Mr. Bogy was elected President of the St. 
Louis and Iron Mountain Kailroad, and continued in that position 
for two years, and until the commencement of the late war, when, 
not being in sympathy with the prevailing Northern sentiments, he 
was compelled to relinquish the position. His administration of 
the affairs of the road was very able and energetic. After retiring 
from the presidency of the road he resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession, which, however, he did not continue long. On account of 
his supposed sympathy with the South lie was compelled to relin- 
quish the law, not being able to take the oath required of lawyers 
to qualify them to appear in the trial of cases in court, 

246 



LEWIS V. BOGY. 3 

Mr. Bogy had previously filled with honor several important 
positions in St. Louis. He was the first President of the Exchange 
Bank, and was a Commissioner of Public Schools. In 1852 he was 
a candidate of the Democratic Party in opposition to the distin- 
guished Thomas H. Benton. In 1863 his friends forced upon him 
the Democratic nomination as a candidate for Congress in the St. 
Louis District against General F. P. Blair, Jun. He accepted the 
nomination with no hope of an election, but simply to lend his 
influence to the maintenance of party organization and the pro- 
tection of his political friends. Recently he filled the oflice of 
Alderman and President of the City Council. The duties of this 
position he discharged with ability, and to the entire satisfaction of 
both parties represented in the body over which he presided. 

The Pilot Knob locality was during the war a great center for 
military operations. Late in the year 1864 General Price made 
his raid in Missouri, and encamped with his army at Pilot 
Knob, where a severe battle was fought. Shells accidentally fell 
upon the buildings of the ironworks, setting them on fire, and de- 
stroying two large furnaces then running, and yielding forty tons 
of iron per day. All business was in consequence suspended. 
The furnaces had to be rebuilt, requiring large means and long 
time. Having devoted the best years of his life to this great en- 
terprise, he was unwilling to give it any more of his time and 
money. He consequently sold out his entire interest in a business 
which is now one of the most prosperous and remunerative in the 
country. 

In the fall of 1866 President Johnson tendered him the position 
of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. After a good deal of hesita- 
tion, and not without a full knowledge that it would involve him 
in great pecuniary loss, he accepted the position, and proceeding to 
Washington, took charge of the ofiice. 

At that time the entire Indian country was involved in war, the 
result of the bad management of the Indian Department. When 
he left the oflice peace and friendship existed with every tribe. 
While in this position he acquired a national reputation, exhibiting 

247 



4: LEWIS V. BOGY. 

the liighest administrative ability, and an integrity beyond the 
reach of all the rings surrounding this department. 

He retained the Commissionership until the end of the ensuing 
session of Congress, when a Republican Senate refused to confirm 
his nomination. The leading Eepublican Senators, who could not, 
under strict party rules, vote for his confirmation, yet desired his 
continuance in office, and for this reason action on his nomination 
was postponed to the last day of the session. So useful had he 
shown himself that the Secretary of the Interior retained him for 
some time afterward as Special Commissioner. 

In January, 1873, Mr. Bogy was elected United States Senator 
by the Legislature of Missouri, to succeed General F. P. Blair, Jun. 
He took his seat in the Senate on the 4th day of March, 1873. 
During the entire war he was true to his Democratic antecedents, 
sharing all the time the dark fortunes of his party. His election to 
the Senate was an emphatic expression of the Democratic principles 
and policy as re-established in the State. His home reputation is 
that of an able, decided, and truly honest man. His friends expect 
that he will not only be true and faithful to the traditions of his 
party, but will be an able defender of its principles on the floor of 
the Senate. 

248 





^^£:i^ 



GEOEGE S. BOUTWELL. 



-^^^EORGE S. BOUTWELL was born in BrookHne, Massachu- 




setts, January 28th, 1818. He learned to read at his 
mother's knee while she read the large family Bible. Be- 
ing a farmer's son, his assistance was required at home dui'iug the 
greater part of the year, so that his training in the schools was lim- 
ited to a few weeks of the winter. Whether in school or out, he 
prosecuted his studies most diligently, and when seventeen years of 
age he taught school in Shirley, Massachusetts. 

In March, 1835, he went to Groton and commenced business as 
clerk in a store. In the second story of the store there was kept an 
old but well-selected library. This was more fortunate for young 
Boutwell than the discovery of a mine of gold. In the absence of 
customers, and in the intervals of business, he read during the day. 
At nine o'clock, when the store was closed, he would repair to the 
library and read till overcome by drowsiness, when he would arouse 
himself by physical exercise, or plunging his head in a pail of water 
at hand for that purpose. He pursued the study of Latin and French, 
and made proficiency in other branches, such as gave him rank in 
scholastic attainments equal to tliat attained by college graduates. 
At the age of eighteen he entered his name in an attorney's office for 
the study of law, which he pursued with diligence in the intervals 
of business, for many years. 

At nineteen he made his first public appearance in a lecture before 
the Groton Lyceum. In 1840 he entered with youthful ardor into 
politics, advocating the election of Mr. Van Buren. At the age of 
twenty-one he was elected a member of the School Committee of 
Groton, a large town of more than usual wealth and culture. In the 
same year he was the candidate of the Democratic party for the Leg- 

249 



2 GEORGE S BOUTWELL. 

islature, but failed to be elected. He was again nominated, however, 
and in 1842 was elected to the Legislature, in which he served for seven 
years. He soon became a leading member, sui'passing all in thorough 
mastery of the subjects discussed, and in readiness and ability as a 
debater. He ably and successfully advocated the question of retrench- 
ment of expenses, enlargement of the school fund, and Harvard Col- 
lege reform. 

During his service in the Legislature Mr. Boutwell was also Rail- 
way Commissioner, Bank Commissioner, and three times a Demo- 
cratic candidate for Congress. He also delivered numerous lyceum 
lectures and political addresses. 

In 1S51 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held the 
office two terms. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1853, in which he was a recognized leader. Eufus Choate 
was his leading opponent. Early in the session, the subject of 
" Town Representation " being under consideration, Mr. Choate made 
one of his most characteristically eloquent speeches, which completely 
carried away the Convention. Mr. Boutwell rose to reply, surpris- 
ing many with his apparent temerity in attempting to meet the most 
brilliant orator of the Whigs. But all apprehension of a damaging 
comparison or a failure soon passed away. He enchained tlie atten- 
tion of the Convention, and maintained his cause with signal ability. 
He drafted and reported the Constitution, which was submitted to 
the people and adopted. 

The same year Mr. Boutwell became a member of the State Board 
of Education, in which he remained ten years. For five years he 
was Secretary of the Board, meanwhile preparing its Annual Re- 
ports, and publishing a " Manual of the School System and School 
Laws of Massachusetts," and a volume on " Educational Topics and 
Institutions." In 1856 his literary and scientific attainments were 
recognized in his election as a member of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences. From 1851 to 1S60 he was a member of the 
Board of Overseers of Harvard College. 

In 1853 Mr. Boutwell cast his last vote with the Democratic party, 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1854, completely sunder- 

250 



GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 3 

ing his eld political ties. He was a leader in the orgaaization of the 
Kepublican party in Massachusetts. 

In 1861, having been elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of 
Cambridge, he delivered the Commencement oration. With oljvious 
propriety, political subjects are usually avoided on such occasions ; but 
such was the absorbing interest in national affairs, that the officers of 
the college and of the society requested him to discuss freely the 
state of the country. In the oration which followed, he showed that 
Slavery was the cause of the war, and demonstrated the justice and 
necessity of emancipation. It was so far in advance of the times as 
to receive severe censure, not only from Democrats, but from many 
Kepublicans. Published entire in many journals, and circulated 
throughout the country, it did much to hasten the great revolution in 
public sentiment which was essential to the suppression of the Rebel- 
lion. 

The first time that Mr. Boutwell appeared in a public capacity 
outside of Massachsetts, was as a member of the celebrated Peace 
Congress, held in 1861, which failed to arrest the rebellion of the 
South. He was first Commissioner of Internal Revenue, from July, 
1862 to March, 1863. During his incumbency of this office he or- 
ganized the vast Revenue System of the United States. 

Having been elected a Representative in Congress, he took his 
seat as a member of the House in March, 1863. He was appointed 
a member of the Judiciary Committee — an evidence of the high 
estimate in which his legal talent and attainments wei-e held. 

In the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses he was continued on 
this committee, and was a member of the Joint Committee on Re- 
construction. 

Making his first appearance in the national councils when the 
country was in the midst of a war of unexampled magnitude, he found 
a wide field opened before him for the exercise of his abilities. The 
Emancipation Proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, and all the war meas- 
ures of the Administration, received his hearty support. When the 
enlistment of negroes was first resolved upon, he was among the 
foremost to encourage the policy, making several speeches in support 

'251 



4 GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 

of what he regarded as a movement essential to a successful prose- 
cution of the war. After the Rebellion had been suppressed, he 
was one of the earliest advocates of negro suflrage. 

No one was more impatient with President Johnson's defection 
from the principles of the party by whom he had been elected ; no 
one was more firmly convinced that he was guilty of crimes and 
misdemeanors deserving impeachment. As a Manager of the Im- 
peachment Trial before the Senate, his sincerity, honesty, eloquence 
and erudition attracted the attention of the entire country. 

Elected for the fourth time as a Representative from Massachu- 
setts, Mr. Bout well had just taken his seat in the Forty-first Con- 
gress when he was called by President Grant to a seat in the 
Cabinet, as Secretary of the Treasury. This appointment was 
recognized by the country as eminently wise and proper. 

The new Secretary at once addressed himself to the work of regu- 
lating the complex and much disordered machinery of his depart- 
ment. He began at the very opening of his administration of the 
Treasury to diminish the public debt. Notwithstanding the diffi- 
culties incident to entering upon a new financial policy, during his 
first three months in office he reduced the national indebtedness 
more than twenty millions of dollars. In four years he succeeded 
in reducing the debt more than three hundred millions of dollars. 

At the beginning of President Grant's second term Mr. Bout- 
well indicated a desire to retire from the cares and responsibilities 
of the Treasury. He was elected a Senator from Massachusetts, to 
succeed Vice-President Wilson, and took his seat in March, 1873. 

Mr. Boutwell is a man of great force of character, power of mind, 
and strength of will. With indomitable perseverance and rare 
sagacity, he has risen to a position of commanding influence. He is 
an impressive speaker, with distinct articulation and earnest manner. 
He is a vigorous thinker, convincing by the force of logic rather 
than captivating with the charms of rhetoric. Whether as State 
Executive, national legislator, or cabinet officer, he is the same 
honest, popular, and efficient statesman. 

252 




''y"ysBmis„.am"S<-i^^ 




SIMOI^ B. CO]N"OVEE. 



^ IMON" B. CONOVER was born in Middlesex County, New 
Jersey, September 23, 1840. He received a liberal edu- 
^^ cation, and at the age of nineteen commenced the study 
of medicine, entering the University of Pennsylvania in 
1860. A few months after graduating, in 1863, he received an 
appointment as assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland, 
and was stationed at Nashville, Tennessee. In 1864 he was trans- 
ferred to the Haddington Hospital, Philadelpiiia, and from there to 
Cincinnati, where he was placed in charge of the Post Hospital. 
In 1866 he went to Florida as surgeon in the United States army, 
and was stationed in Lake City. Here he speedily won public 
confidence and esteem. He distinguished himself by his unweary- 
ing services to the colored people, riding night and day to benefit 
them. 

Politically he has always been a consistent, fearless, and inde- 
pendent Republican. He has labored faithfully and earnestly for 
the Republican party from its organization in 1856, casting his first 
vote for Abraham Lincoln. On settling in Florida he at once 
identified himself with the true interests of the State and of the 
Republican party. He was elected a member of the Constitutional 
Convention from the counties of Baker and Columbia by a large 
majority. On the election of Governor Reed in 1868, Dr. Conover 
was rewarded for his valuable services in the campaign, and during 
the reconstruction period, with the appointment of State Treasurer. 
This position he filled with credit to himself and advantage to the 
State. It is an evidence of public confidence in his integrity that 
all eflPorts to remove him from his position by those who could not 
use him to further their own ends uniformly failed. In 1868 he 
was a delegate to the Chicago Convention, and was made a member 

253 



2 SIMON B. CONOVER. 

of tlie National Eepublicaii Committee. At the last State Conven- 
tion he was appointed on the State Executive Committee. 

At the expiration of his term of service as State Treasurer he 
was elected to the Florida Legislature as a Representative from the 
county of Leon, and was chosen Speaker of the House. In Janu- 
ary, 1873, he was elected a United States Senator to succeed Hon. 
T. W. Osborn, "after a struggle," said the Tallahassee Sentinel, 
" protracted through many days, and which, for intensity of party 
action, is without a parallel in the political history of the State." 
The successful candidate received forty-three of the seventy-three 
votes cast. " Let the vote be examined that elected him," said the 
Tallahassee Floridian, " and it will be found to stand composed of 
twenty-two anti-Ring Republicans, and twenty-one young pro- 
gressive Democrats, which swept down on the other side a junction 
between the forces of the Ring and the unprogressive Bourbons 
among the Conservatives." 

In a speech in response to a serenade by the citizens of Talla- 
hassee soon after the election Mr. Conover said : 

"As I understand, all that supported me have done so knowing 
ray political predilections. I -was a delegate to the Chicago Con- 
vention, which first nominated General Grant, sent tliere by the 
first Republican organization that ever existed in the State, and 
have always been an unwavering supporter of liis administration in 
all matters which I believed for the best interests of the country, 
and I shall continue in that course. It shall be my endeavor to do 
all things in my power that may conduce to the welfare of the 
State and to secure harmony among all classes of our people." 

One of the leading journals of Florida gives the following edi- 
torial estimate of his character : 

" His energy and ability, together with his strict integrity and 
honesty of purpose, have commanded the respect even of his polit- 
ical opponents. Firm and unwavering in his political convictions, 
yet never intrusive, his gentlemanly discretion has obtained for 
liim the confidence and respect of all the people, and won him a 

reputation of which he may well be proud." 

254 




■r 



I ' ^ C-~^ 9 



^-^^-^ y^^-z^i^ <:) 



GEORGE R. DEITlsriS. 




'EORGE R. DENNIS was born in White Haven, Somerset 
County, Maryland, April 8, 1822. He is of one of the 
oldest families in the State, members of which were 
prominent in politics at an early period in the history 
of the country, and all of whom have resided upon the Eastern 
Shore of Maryland. John Dennis was a member of Congress in 
1797, dying during his term of service ; Littleton P. Dennis also 
died while serving in Congress in 1833 ; John Dennis was in Con- 
gress from 1839 to 1843. Littleton Dennis, the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was a Whig elector for five Presidential 
elections, first serving in 1801 ; he was an eminent lawyer, and was 
appointed one of the Judges of the General Court, at that time the 
Supreme Court of the State. The present Senator received his 
early education from a private tutor, Michael Tuomey, (afterward 
State Geologist of Alabama,) and at Washington Academy, Mary- 
land. He then entered the Van Rensselaer Polytechnic Listitute 
of Troy, New York, where he graduated in 1840. After completing 
the course of the Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Dennis entered the 
University of Virginia, and subsequently studied medicine at the 
University of Pennsylvania. Receiving his degree as a doctor of 
medicine from that institution in 1843, he entered upon the prac- 
tice of his profession in his native county. He practiced with 
eminent success for many years, but about fifteen years ago retired 
from active professional work, and has since devoted himself to the 
management of a large plantation. 

He took an active interest in the great works of internal im- 
provement which have been of such service in developing the 
resources of the State and nation. He is President of the Eastern 

Shore Railroad, of which he was a director from its first organiza- 

255 



2 GEORGE R. DENNIS. 

tioii. He was a State Directoi' in the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, resigning that position at the time of his election to tlie 
United States Senate. 

In politics Mr. Dennis was at first a Whig, but since 1860 has 
acted with the Democratic j^arty. He was a delegate from the 
State at large to the Whig National Convention which nominated 
Fillmore in 1856, and also to the Democratic National Convention 
which met in New York in 1868, serving as one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents of that body. He was elected to the State Senate in 1854, 
to the House of Delegates in 1867, and again to the State Senate 
in 1871. While holding this position he was elected to the United 
States Senate, receiving fifty-eight out of sixty-eight votes in caucus, 
and took his seat in that body March 4, 1873. He was appointed 
on the Committees on Agriculture and Commerce. In the State 
Legislature he devoted himself with zeal to the promotion of edu- 
cation and the development of the resources of the State, and has 
lived to see his Commonwealth enjoying a high degree of prosperity 
under the liberal policy he advocated. 

Mr. Dennis has been twice married. His first wife was a 
danghter of Thomas R. Joynes, Esq., of Accomac County, Vir- 
ginia. He contracted a second marriage with a daughter of Will- 
iam W. Johnston, Esq., of Somerset County, Maryland. His eldest 
son, J. Upshur Dennis, Esq., is a successful lawyer in Baltimore. 

Prepossessing in appearance and agreeable in his manners, he is 
very popular; and with active and industrious habits and a sound 
judgment he combines the elements of an able Senator and a safe 
legislator, 

256 



STEPHEN W. DORSET. 




^^TTEPHEN W. DOKSEY was born in Benson, Kutland 
County, Vermont, February 28, 1812. He received an 
academic education, and left his native State at an early 
age, locating in Oberlin, Ohio. At the breaking out of 
the late civil war he enlisted as a private in a battery of light 
artillery. He fought his first battle at Shiloh, under General 
Grant, where, as first lieutenant, he commanded two pieces of 
artillery. He was at Perryville under General Buell, and at 
Stone River and Chickamauga under General Rosecrans. He was 
subsequently inspector of artillery on the staff of General Thomas. 
He commanded a battery at the battle of Mission Ridge, after 
which he was promoted to a captaincy. 

In 1864 he was transferred to the Army of the Potomac, and 
assigned to the command of the First Ohio Battery. In the mem- 
orable campaign under General Grant he was engaged in tlie battles 
of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. 
He was in command of the historic " Fort Hell," in front of Peters- 
burg, during the siege. He participated actively in nearly all the 
engagements which closed the terrible drama, and which compelled 
the surrender at Appomattox. 

The war over, he resigned this commission, and returning to 
Ohio, organized the now well-known "Sandusky Tool Company," 
of which he was elected Manager. This company, under his effi- 
cient management, became one of the largest and most successful 
of its kind in the country. Mr. Dorsey took a prominent part in 
the politics of Ohio, identifying himself with the Republicans, by 
whom he was frequently tendered positions of honor and profit, 
which he invariably declined. He was Chairman of the Congres- 

257 



2 STEPHEN W. DORSET. 

sional and County Central Committees for several years, and in 
those positions rendered valuable service. 

Early in January, 1870, he was elected President of the " Ar- 
kansas Central Railway Company." He accepted the position, 
and at once left for his new field of labor and responsibility. At 
that time not one hundred miles of railroad had been completed 
within the limits of the State. The "Arkansas Central Railway 
Company " had a charter to build, equip, and operate a road from 
Helena on the Mississippi River to Little Rock, with a branch to 
Pine Bluff, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, but no money 
or any thing else available to build, equip, or operate it with, 
Nothing whatever of a practical nature had been done save a partial 
preliminary survey. The State Board of Railroad Commissioners 
had awarded fifteen thousand dollars per mile in bonds of the State, 
for the entire line of the " Central," but as the company had to 
make provision for the interest if it accepted and negotiated them, 
this award at that time, as a matter of fact, amounted to nothing. 

It was with these surroundings that Mr. Dorsey took hold to 
bring " order out of chaos," and achieve a success where disaster 
seemed almost certain. His own resources were promptly brought 
into action. He contributed largely of his private means, and in- 
duced a number of his financial friends to follow his example. He 
visited the moneyed centers of this country and Europe, and as a 
result of his persevering energy the bonds of Arkansas have now a 
very positive value. That his management of the Central has 
proven a complete success, the sixty miles already completed, fully 
equipped, and doing a profitable business, amply attest. 

In the politics of Arkansas Mr. Dorsey has always taken an active 
and prominent part. In the Republican State Convention of 1872 
and as a member of the " State Central Committee," he added 
materially to the success of the party. He subsequently declined 
a nomination for Representative in Congress, but was soon after 
elected to the Senate, receiving the votes of every Republican and 
two thirds of the Democrats in the Legislature. He took his seat 
March 4, 1873, for the term which will expire in 1879. 

258 




^y'b'SB&i? i s^ uNp^s^^ 




JOHN J. PATTERSOK. 




J^OHN J. PATTERSON was born in Juniata County, 
Pennsylvania, August 8, 1830. He was educated at Jeffer- 
son College, where he graduated in 1848. Subsequently 
for two years he remained in Juniata County, assisting his 
father in conducting a large tanning business. In 1852 he became 
editor of the " Juniata Sentinel," and supported General Scott for 
the Presidency. In the same year he was a member of the Whig 
State Committee of Pennsylvania. He served upon nearly every 
succeeding Whig and Republican Committee until he left the 
State. He was a member of the first National Republican Con 
vention by which General Fremont was nominated, and of the 
Chicago Convention of 1860 that first nominated Mr. Lincoln. In 
1859 and 1861 he represented Juniata, Union, and Snyder Coun- 
ties in the Pennsylvania Legislature. 

When the war of the Rebellion broke out he was captain of a 
volunteer company of cavalry already organized, and on the day 
of the publication of President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five 
thousand volunteers he tendered the services of himself and com- 
pany. In the evening of the same day a dispatch from Washing- 
ton announced the acceptance of the offer. Captain Patterson at 
once appointed a rendezvous, and ordered his men to report inwue- 
diately for duty ; but on the following day a second dispatch 
announced the decision of the authorities not to accept the services 
of volunteer cavalry, and the orders were countermanded. Not to 
be swerved from his patriotic purpose, Mr. Patterson took a position 
on the staff of General Williams, with the rank of captain, in the 
three months' service. He was then appointed Captain in the 
Fifteenth Infantry reeular army, and served under General Rose- 

259 



2 JOHN J. PATTERSON. 

crans in "West Virginia. In 1862 he went into the Paymasters 
Department, and served under the same general. In the same 
year, returning home, he received the Republican nomination for 
Congress, but was defeated by General W. H. Miller. The Ee- 
publicans of Juniata County renewed the nomination in 1864, 1866, 
and 1868, but in each instance it failed in the District Convention. 

From 1863 to 1869 he was engaged in the banking and other 
business in his native county, but in the latter year he went to 
South Carolina on account of his health. Possessed of ample 
pecuniary means, it was not long before he found opportunities for 
investments. He purchased large interests in the dilapidated rail- 
roads of the State, and at once engaged in the work of reconstruct- 
ing and bringing them up to the Northern standard. He was 
elected Vice-President of the Greenville and Columbia Company 
in 1870, and served in that capacity until the sale of the road to 
the South Carolina Company. In 1871 he was elected President 
of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, which office he yet holds. 

In 1872 Mr. Patterson was a delegate to the Philadelphia Con- 
vention that renominated President Grant. In 1873 he was elect- 
ed United States Senator from South Carolina, to succeed Hon. F. 
A. Sawyer, receiving on the first ballot seventeen out of thirty- 
three votes in the Senate, and seventy-three of one hundred and 
twenty-four in the House, thus rendering a joint ballot unnecessary. 
He took his seat at the called session, March i, 1873, and at once 
applied himself with industry to the duties of his position. 

260 



V 





/ 

HON. AARON A.SARGENT. 
HEPHESENTAlTVE PHOM CATJFORNIA. 



AARON A. SARGENT. 



tARON AUGUSTUS SARGENT was born September 28, 
1827, in Ncwburyport, Massachusetts. When a boy he en- 
tered a printing office, and while acquiring a trade became 
proficient in elementary education. Having mastered "the art 
preservative," he went to "Washington, D. C, where he was en- 
gaged from 1847 to 1849 as a reporter in Congress. In February, 
1849, he migrated to California, and, after a brief sojourn in San 
Francisco, made fhe city of Nevada his permanent residence. 
After mining, with more or less success, he started the Nevada 
Journal, which, under his editorial control, became noted for 
vigor, ability and fearlessness. In 1853, while thus engaged, he 
commenced the study of the law, came to the bar in 1854, and 
about the same time was elected District Attorney of Nevada 
county, a position which he held from 1855 to 1857, and rapidly 
became a leader of the Nevada bar, being singularly fortunate in 
his conduct of the many intricate and important causes confided 
to his care — a result perhaps attributable as much to his indefati- 
gable industry as to the high qualities of his mind. In politics 
Mr. Sargent was a Whig until 1856, when he became a Republi- 
can and threw himself into the Fremont Presidential campaign 
with restless energy, at a time when in California it was danger- 
ous to be a Republican, and when denunciations of Democracy 
were greeted with jeers, rotten eggs and other missiles. He was 
afterwards nominated for Attorney General of California, but 
with the rest of the ticket was defeated. Subsequently, he was a 
delegate to and Vice President of the Chicago Convention which 
nominated Abraham Lincoln. 
In 1861 he was elected a Representative from California to the 

261 



2 AARONA. SARGENT. 

Thirty-Seventh Congress, during which h* eejwed aa-ia ojember 
of the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and from the 
fact that he drew tlie first Pacific Railroad act passed bj' Congress, 
fought it through the House against all opposition, and success- 
fully brought every honorable influence to bear upon its passage 
by the Senate, Mr. Sargent earned the gratitude of the people of 
the Pacific coast, and is justly considered "The Father of the 
Pacific Railroad." Among his speeches during this Congress, 
those of January 31 and April 9, 1862, proving the military 
necessity for the Pacific Railroad; that of May 23, 1862, on the 
confiscation of rebel property ; and his tribute to the memory of 
his friend, the lamented Senator Edward D. Baker, who fell at 
Ball's Bluft" — attracted marked attention. 

The " New York Tribune," of June 23, 1869, contains a letter 
from Omaha, written by the late Albert D. Richardson, in which 
occurs a reminiscence that gives some idea of the amount of labor 
undergone by Mr. Sargent ut this time. He writes : 

" A. A. Sargent, the Representative from California, who, in 
1862, drafted the bill under which the Pacific railroad has been 
built, was also upon our train. * * * * It is difficult to 
imagine that a man still so young, that his face retains the fresh- 
ness of boyhood, has seen the richest State in the Union grow up 
from nothing to the greatest material enterprise since the world 
was originated and created. Sargent, James H. Campbell, of 
Pennsylvania, and Schuyler Colfax, were the most efiicient and 
judicious friends of the measure in the House, as were Wilson, 
of Massachusetts, Morrill, of Maine, and McDougall, of Califor- 
nia, in the Senate. Day after day, for a month, in Committee of 
the Whole, Sargent and Campbell alternately answered objections 
to the bill in five-minute speeches, and night after night, with 
Theodore D. Judah, the engineer, supplying them with exact 
information, they * sat up' with Eastern Senators and Represen- 
tatives. There was hostility to overcome, there was incredulity 

262 



AARON A. SARGENT. 3 

to satisfy. In the House one day Owen Lovejoy askeci, with his 
peculiar satire of tone and shrug of the shoulders : ' Do I under- 
stand the gentleman from California to say that he acutally 
expects this road to be built T 'The gentleman from Illinois,' 
replied Sargent promptly, • may understand me to predict that 
if this bill is passed the road will be finished within ten years.' 
In his heart of hearts, though, Sargent feared that this was a wild 
prophecy. Only seven years have passed, three of them years of 
exhausting civil war, but over the prairie, over the desert, over 
the mountains to the waters of the Pacific, long trains are rolling 
daily." * * * * 

Having accomplished his great Pacific Railroad task, Mr. Sar- 
gent resumed his lucrative practice of the law in Nevada city, 
and persistently declined re-nomination — his mining interests re- 
quiring his presence at home. It was before this time that the 
Eepublican minority of the State Legislature gave him their vote 
for the United States Senate, although he was not then of Consti- 
tutional age to enter that body. In 1862, in the Republican 
majoritj' caucus he lacked only three votes of being their choice 
for United States Senator, to succeed the lamented Broderick. 
At a subsequent Senatorial election, he again received a large 
vote in Republican caucus, but a combination of other candidates 
defeated him. In 1869 he yielded to the solicitations of friends 
and consented to run for the Forty-First Congress, and was the 
only Republican Representative elected by California — his major- 
ity being about equal to the combined majorities of the Demo- 
cratic delegation from that State. A less popular man would 
probably at that juncture have sufiered defeat, and the State been 
irretrieveably lost to the Republican party. During this Congress 
he was a leading member of the Committee on Appropriations 
and the Committee on Mines and Mining, distinguishing himself 
especially as the author of the new mining code under which min- 
eral lands can be held in fee simple; of various homestead and 

263 



4 AARONA. SARGENT. 

pre-emption measures; and, as the member having charge of the 
Indian appropriation bills, for the spirited and determined man- 
ner in which, during several sessions, he fought for and finally 
secured the statutory relinquishment by the United States (Senate 
of its long claimed and exercised right to make treaties with the 
Indian tribes. His comprehensive review of Congressional recon- 
struction as far as then accomplished, at the firdt session drew 
upon him the attention of the House and the country ; and, dui*- 
ing the second, his scathing exhibit of the " Record of the Dem- 
ocratic Party," delivered before the House, February 5, 1870, 
created a great sensation. His minor speeches, — on Tarift' and 
Internal Revenue reduction, for Settlers' Rights, against Mining 
Tunnel Subsidies, and on the Goat Island bill and other subjects 
of legislation, — were numerous and able. Of his course during 
this period the "New York Tribune," of July 4th, 1870, justly 
said : " Aaron A. Sargent, of California, has, without question, 
been the most industrious man in Congress." 

Upon returning to his constituents, the University of California 
honored him with the degree of A. M., and his district re-elected 
him to the Forty-Second Congress by a large majority. Here he 
again signalized himself by the celerity with which he prepared, 
perfected, and pushed through the House appropriation bills in 
his charge ; by the fearless honesty and the ability with which he 
attacked the Indiana, Illinois and Ohio two per cent. bill. He 
was a leading member of the Committee to Investigate Charges 
against the Navy Department, appointed March 12, 1872, and 
drew the exhaustive report for the majority of the committee, 
which so fully exonerated the Navy Department from the charges 
preferred. Soon after his re-election to Forty-Second Congress, 
the Legislature of California elected him to the United States 
Senate — his vote in Republican caucus being 54 against 17 given 

for all other candidates — to take his seat March 4, 1873. 

2M 



BAINBEIDGE WADLEIGH. 




"AINBEIDGE WADLEIGH was born in Bradford, New 
Hampsliire, January 4, 1831. At the age of fourteen 
years he was prepared for college, mostly under private 
tuition, but his health, which had always been delicate, compelled 
him to give up his studies, and spend two years in out-door life. 
By the advice of physicians he gave up the idea of going through 
college, and in January, 1847, commenced the study of law in the 
office of Hon. M. W. Tappan, of Bradford. There he spent three 
years in careful training, both of mind and body. By means of 
the physical regimen to which he then subjected himself, he in a 
great measure overcame the natural delicacy of his constitution, 
and insured to himself a moderate degree of health. 

Early in 1860 he was admitted to the bar upon examination, 
and commenced the practice of the law in Milford, New Hamp- 
shire, where he has since resided. In the practice of his profession 
he made the most careful ^preparation, and studied his cases with 
the utmost diligence. The work which this necessarily involved 
was not a task, but labor which he delighted in for its own sa.ke. 
He had exalted notions of his profession, looking upon it not as a 
mere means for the acquisition of wealth or office, but as a pursuit 
to excel in which is ample reward for the toil of a lifetime. His 
progress in his jirofession was rapid, and his success was well- 
earned. He acquired a very large practice in Hillsborough County, 
and is now one of the most successful lawyers in New Hampshire. 
His reputation as a jury lawyer is such that he is called upon to 
try cases, not only in New Hampshire, but often is engaged in 
cases of importance in neighboring States. His pride in his pro- 
fession impelled him to take great pains with his law library, and 

265 



2 BAINBRIDGE WADLEIGH. 

lie now Inis one of the largest and choicest collections of law books 
in the State. 

He was one of the early antislavery men, voting and acting 
with them when their cause appeared to be in a hopeless minority 
in New Hampsliire and tliroughout the country. In 1855, when 
twenty-four years of age, he was elected to the State Legislature 
from liis town, and served in that body acceptably to his fellow- 
citizens in tliat and the following year. Again in 1859, 1860, 1869, 
1870, 1871, and 1872, he was a member of the House from Milford. 
Early in his legislative career he began t( give indications of that 
skill and power in debate for which he has since become so justly 
celebrated in New Hampshire. During his last four years in the 
State Legislature he was the acknowledged leader of the House, 
not only in debate, but in the influence which he exercised over 
his fellow-members. He served on important committees, and as 
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1871 he exhibited, in 
a most unmistakable manner, his ability as a manager and tacti- 
cian in the Legislature. In that year the Democrats had a majority 
of one or two in the House ; and it was owing to the adroit man- 
agement of Mr. Wadleigh, more than to any other cause, that they 
did not succeed in driving from office every Republican incum- 
bent, and in so re-districting the State that in the future New 
Hampshire would have been hopelessly Democratic. 

In 1872 a United States Senator was to be chosen to succeed 
Hon. J. W. Patterson. The contest for the place was a fierce one ; 
the caTididates were nxrmerous, and embraced many of the best and 
most influential men in the State, whose friends made great exer- 
tions In their behalf As the Kepublicans had a large majority in 
the Legislature, the result was virtually determined in the Repub- 
lican caucus. On the first ballot Mr. Wadleigh, who was not a 
candidate, and had not sought the office, received three votes, and 
on the fourth ballot he was nominated by a vote of one hundred 
and fifty-two out of two hundred and ten. He was elected on the 
18th of June, 1872, and took his seat in the United States Senate 

March 4. 1873. 

266 



THOMAS O. MCCREERT. 



■^" 



JpJHOMAS C. McCEEEET is a native of Kentucky, and was 
^^\^ born in 1817. He studied law, but instead of practising 
^?f^ his profession, he turned his attention to the more peaceful 
pursuits of agriculture. He was a presidential elector in 1852, and in 
1858 was a member of the Board of Visitors to the military academy 
at West Point. On the resignation of James Guthrie, as Senator in 
Congress, from Kentucky in 1868, Mr. McCreery was elected as a 
Democrat for the unexpired term ending in 1871, and took his seat 
in the Senate, February 28, 1868. He was assigned to places on the 
Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Territories. His 
first elaborate speech in the Senate was delivered May 28, 1868, 
when he spoke at great length against the bill to admit Arkansas to 
representation in Congress. The style of the speech is illustrated in 
the following passage : " The safeguards which were thrown around 
the rights of the citizen, as well as the land-marks which were 
erected to protect the different departments in the exercise of their 
delegated powers have been obliterated and destroyed ; and instead 
of the symmetry and simplicity of our old republican institutions 
the nation this day groans under the weight of a compound radical 
iniquity, which may be denominated a civil, circumspect, military, 
despotic, represented and unrepresented confederation of States, 
principalities and powers." He was the sole supporter of a resolution 
ofiered by his colleague, Mr. Davis, declaring that " a court of im- 
peachment cannot be legally formed, while Senators from certain 
States are excluded." December 17, 1868, he proposed an amend- 
ment to the Constitution intended to protect the rights of minorities, 
and provide against the contingency of bringing an election for 
President and Vice-President to the House of Eepresentatives. 

267 



2 THOMAS C.MoCREERY. 

In the Forty-first Congress Mr. McCreery served on tlie Commit- 
tee on Pensions, in addition to those upon which he had previously 
been appointed. Tlie most remarkable of the acts of Mr. McCreery 
in tlie Senate was his offer, December 13, 1870, of a joint resolu- 
tion for the relief of Mrs. Kobert E. Lee, looking to the restoration 
to her possession of the estate known as " Arlington," the burial- 
place of seventeen thousand soldiers who fell in the War of the 
Eebellion. On presenting the resolution Mr. McCreery eulogized 
General Lee as one who '• enjoyed a singular exemption from the 
faults and follies of other men." Eeferring to Mrs. Lee, he said : 
"In her behalf I implore your justice. I do not ask for any thing 
else. She belongs to a race fond of bestowing charity, but poverty 
cannot force them to accept it. She owns, but does not occupy, 
the home of her fathers. Will you, Senators, remove the bar 
which excludes her from Arlington ? " Mr. McCreery's efforts 
were unavailing; the Senate refused leave to introduce this resolu- 
tion by a vote of fifty-four to four. 

At the expiration of his term, March 4, 1871, Mr. McCreery was 
succeeded by Hon. John W. Stevenson. After the death of Hon. 
Garrett Davis, the Democrats of the Kentucky Legislature, who 
admired the boldness of Mr. McCreery in proposing his Arlington 
resolution, elected him to fill the vacancy, and he took his seat in 
the Senate March 4, 1873. On the occasion of his election the St. 
Louis Democrat said of him : " McCreery is a jolly old soul, and 
personally one of the cleverest of men. You would take him, from 
his dress and appearance in the Senate, to be a well-to-do farmer, 
fresh from his barn-yard, who had just dropped in to see with what 
little wisdom the world was governed." 

268 



AUGUSTUS S. MEREIMOK 







I^^UGITSTITS S. MERRIMON was born September 15, 
1830, ill the County of Buncombe, (now Transylvania,) 
North Carolina. But little is known of his ancestors, 
who, though respectable, did not belong to the ruling, aristocratic 
class. Augustus inherited neither wealth nor position, but entered 
life with a sound constitution, good powers of mind, and resolute will, 
which abundantly made up for the lack of moneyed capital. En- 
joying but limited means for schooling, he applied himself dili- 
gently to private study, in which he made good proficiency. He 
studied law, and was admitted to the supreme bar of North Carolina 
in 1852 at the age of twenty-two. He soon reached an honorable 
eminence in his profession. 

His first official position was that of County Attorney, in which 
capacity he served at various times in several counties. In 1860 
he was nominated by the Union Whigs for the lower house of the 
State Legislature, and was elected by a majority of twenty-six 
votes. He took an active part with the Whigs in the Legislation 
of 1860-'61, in opposition to secession. Their efforts were vain, 
and when outvoted, and the State undertook to secede, he went 
with his people, and did what he could to preserve law and order 
in the State. He was made State Solicitor of the Eighth Circuit 
by appointment of Judge French, and was afterward elected by 
the Legislature to the same ofiice, which he held during the con- 
tinuance of the war. 

At the close of the war he became a Conservative candidate for 
the Constitutional Convention called under President Johnson's 
Reconstrnction Proclamation, but was beaten by seventeen votes. 
Li 1866 the first Legislature organized in North Carolina after the 

269 



2 AUGUSTUS S. MERRIMON. 

war elected him Judge of the Superior Court. He served in this 
capacity until 18G7, when he resigned, rather than execute, while 
sitting as a civil judge, the military orders of General Sickles regu- 
lating the proceedings of courts, believing that the execution of 
such orders would be a violation of the Constitution and of his 
official obligation. 

In 1868 he was nominated by the Conservatives for Governor 
under the Reconstruction Acts. He declined to run for that office, 
but accepted the nomination for Judge of the Supreme Court. In 
1871 he was one of tlie candidates in Wake County for the Consti- 
tutional Convention, but was defeated with the rest of the Conserv- 
ative ticket. On the 20th of May, 1872, he was nominated by the 
Conservative Convention at Greensboro' for Governor of North 
Carolina. As the election in that State was held early in the 
summer, it was considered very important as an indication of the 
probable issue of the great Presidential campaign then pending, 
and strenuous efforts were made by both parties to carry the State. 
Caldwell, the Republican candidate, was declared elected by nine- 
teen hundred majority', which Mr. Merrimon believes was obtained 
by " counting," and not by the actual vote. 

On the occasion of the election of a United States Senator to 
succeed Hon. John Pool, some twenty Democrats, who were un- 
willing to support Governor Vance, the regular Democratic can- 
didate, united with the Republicans and elected Mr. Merrimon, 
who received eighty-seven votes against seventy-two for Vance. 
Upon entering the Senate, March 4, 1873, he was appointed on the 
Committees on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, Claims, and the Re- 
vision of the Rules. He identified himself fully with the Demo- 
cratic minority in the Senate. 

His face wears an honest, thoughtful expression, more irradiated 
with the sober light of common sense than lit up with tlie glow of 
genius. He is prone to take practical views of things, and is not 
easily led away in pursuit of theories and speculations. 

270 






M/ 



JOHN B. GOEDOl^. 



..j^.^-^ 



rW^Om!( B. GOEDOJST was born in Upson County, Ga., 
^ February 6, 1833, and was educated at the University of 
Georgia. At the outbreak of the late cij?il war he was en- 
gaged in mining coal in Dade County, Georgia, and in Jackson 
County, Alabama. In April, 1861, he raised a company of in- 
fantry, which was accepted as a part of the Sixth Alabama Regi- 
ment, of which he was elected major. The regiment was sent to 
Manassas in May, and was attached to Ewell's brigade. Gordon 
was soon after commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and when the regi- 
ment was reorganized in April, 1862, he was, by unanimous vote, 
elected colonel. 

Seven Pines was the first important battle in which the Sixth 
Alabama was engaged. More than two thirds of Gordon's com- 
mand were killed or wounded ; the lieutenant-colonel, the major, 
and the adjutant were all killed. Every horse ridden into the fight 
was killed, the one on which Gordon was mounted being the last 
to fall under his rider. He participated in the Seven Days' battles 
around Richmond. At Malvern Hill he was in command of 
Eodes' brigade, and led the desperate cliarge upon the Federal 
batteries for half a mile through an open field. His brigade was 
first in the charge, and left its dead nearer the enemy's guns than 
any other of the Confederate troops. Nearly one half of the entire 
command were either killed or wounded in the terrible onset. The 
colonel had the butt of his pistol carried away by a ball, the breast 
of his coat torn open by another, and the canteen at his side shot 
through by a third. 

On Lee's march into Maryland Gordon commanded the fii-st 
Confederate infantry that crossed the Potomac. In the battle of 

271 



2 JOHN B. GORDON. 

South Mountain lie distinguished himself. Of his conduct in this 
fight General D. H. Hill reported that " Colonel Gordon, the 
Christian hero, excelled his former deeds at Seven Pines and in the 
battles around Kichmond. Our language is not capable of ex- 
pressing a higher compliment." 

He evinced remarkable gallantry in the subsequent field of 
Sharpsburgh. He was wounded twice early in the fight, two balls 
passing through his right leg, but he refused to leave the field. An 
hour later he was shot again, a ball passing through his left arm, 
mangling the tendons and muscles, and severing a small artery. 
He bled rapidly, his arm was completely disabled, and his whole 
system greatly shocked. A little while and another ball pene- 
trated his shoulder, producing a terrible shock upon Ijis already 
weakened powers, but he yet persisted in remaining on the field, 
and, haggard and bloody, continued to cheer his men and to wave 
them on to the fight. At last the fifth ball, passing entirely through 
the left cheek, brought him senseless to the ground, and he was 
carried to the rear by some of his men. For several months his 
life hung by a thread, but at length, through his unfailing spirits, 
and the assiduous nursing of a devoted wife, his recovery was 
effected. Colonel Gordon's gallantry at the battle of Sharpsburgh 
did not escape the notice of his superiors. He was made a brigadier 
general after his recovery, in April, 1863, and placed in command 
of the Georgia brigade, formerly commanded by General A. H. 
Lawton. In a little more than a month after he took command he 
fought at Marye's Hill, in front of Fredericksburgh, and retook the 
heights by a brilliant charge. 

In the outset of the Pennsylvania campaign General Gordon was 
with Ewell at the capture of Milroy's forces in Winchester. He 
crossed into Maryland, and moved in front of the Confederate army 
on the Gettysburg, Yorkville, and Wrightsville pike. He moved 
on to Wrightsville, on the Susquehanna River, and, by a flank 
movement on the enemy's intrenched position, caused its evacua- 
tion. In their retreat they fired the bridge after crossing the river. 
The flames were communicated to adjoining buildings, and the 

272 



JOHN B. GORDON. 3 

whole town would have been reduced to ashes but for the generous 
efforts of Gordon's troops to subdue the conflagration. Ho formed 
them in lines around the burning houses, and it was by their per"- 
severing work, continued far into the night, that the flames were 
finally extinguished. 

Next day General Gordon marched to Gettysburg to participate 
in the great battles fought there. On the arrival of Early's division 
Gordon was sent in to support Kodes, whose left was being turned. 
He saw his opportunity, and by a bold and rapid charge broke the 
line guarding the right flank of the Federal army, after an almost 
hand-to-hand conflict, and then struck the flank, pressed heavily 
forward, broke every thing in his front, and turned the tide of 
battle. " It was a most brilliant charge," as ofiicially reported. 
Pollard, in his " Lee and his Lieutenants," says of this charge : 
" The results showed an amount of execution greater, perhaps, than 
was ever accomplished in similar circumstances of the war by the 
same number of men. So great was the success that the whole 
Federal line had retreated, and Gordon was anxious to continue the 
pursuit and seize the heights which the enemy afterward so strongly 
fortified. But he was halted by his superior oflicers. In consulta- 
tion with senior officers at the close of the day he advised an ad- 
vance at once, and expressed an opinion that the heights could be 
taken even at that time. So strongly was he impressed with this 
conviction, that at night he saw his superiors again and urged the 
movement. But other counsels prevailed, and the Confederates 
lost the opportunity of winning what might have been the decisive 
victory of the war." 

It was on the stormy lines of the Eapidan that General Gordon 
performed his chief part in the history of the late civil war. On 
the fifth of May his command was on the pike leading from Orange 
Court-House to Fredericksburgh. The Confederate troops in his 
front had been engaged some time when they were overpowered 
and forced to retreat rapidly. General Gordon ordered his men 
forward to a charge, riding in their front. He broke the Federal 
line, and then, designating certain troops to guard the front, 

273 



4 JOHN B. GORDON. 

wheeled his right and left, and swept down upon tlie enemy's 
flanks in both directions, capturing many prisoners and one regi- 
ment entire. 

During the night of the fifth of May Gordon was transferred to 
the extreme left of the Confederate army. Early on the following 
morning he urged an attack upon the enemy's right flank, but his 
suggestions were not adopted until very late in the afternoon. 
"The probable effect of the movement," says Pollard, "if made 
early in the morning, when General Gordon flrst suggested it, may 
be judged from the success which attended it at dark. He struck 
the enemy fairly and squarely. The surprise was complete and 
the panic very great. The Federal oflicers endeavored to draw 
out brigade after brigade, division after division, and form at right 
angles to the breastworks, so as to cheek the impetuous attack. 
But Gordon's men were upon them before they could be properly 
placed in the new position. He met with no check until some time 
after dark, when, in the confusion attending all night attacks, one 
or two of his regiments on the right were tired into by other Con- 
federate troops, and gave way. But the other troops pressed on 
until the enemy's lines had been captured by Gordon's own brigade, 
for more than a mile, nearly one thousand prisoners taken, includ- 
ing Generals Seymour and Shaler, and a complete disorganization 
effected in a large portion of the Sixth Corps of Grant's army. 

" At Spottsylvania Court-House Gordon was a conspicuous actor 
in one of the most memorable and dramatic passages of the war. 
It was here that, put in command of Early's division, he gave the 
first check to the enemy advancing after taking the salient held 
by General Johnston ; and it was here occurred the affecting and 
noble scene, when he seized the bridle of General Lee's horse, and 
refused to let him lead the Georgians and Virginians placed in line 
for a desperate counter-charge upon the enemy." This fight made 
him a major-general. 

After this battle Gordon took part in the various engagements 
of the two armies until the 13th of June, when he was sent with 
Early to Lynchburgh "to meet Hunter, and afterward to the Valley 

274 



JOHN B. GORDON. 5 

of Virginia and into Maryland. It was his division that won the 
victory at Monocacy. " It was his command," says Pollard, " that 
struck the enemy that almost mortal blow at Cedar Creek, and 
then, palsied by the command of superiors, had the mortification 
of seeing a brilliant victory changed to an irretrievable defeat. It 
was Gordon's command chiefly engaged in the battle of Hare's Hill, 
■where the troops fought with a vigor and brilliancy that reminded 
one of Lee's old campaigns ; it was Gordon's command that held 
the last lines in front of Petersburgh ; and it was Gordon's com- 
mand that, in Lee's final and fatal retreat, was at t'he front, and 
gilded the last scene of surrender with the spectacle of three 
thousand men attempting to cut their way through Sheridan's 
lines, and signalizing the close of tiie war by the capture of 
his artillery." 

In closing his sketch of General Gordon Mr. Pollard says : 
" His military services constitute for him one of the first reputa- 
tions in the war. But he appears, even beyond this object of am- 
bition, to have won a peculiar regard from his countrymen : he has 
been accepted since the war, in some manner, as the representative 
of the young South. He is one of those who have clearly not ter- 
minated their career, and is certain to appear again in history. 
His fiery courage, his ardent sentiments, tempered by the highest 
tone of honor, and regulated by a strong and practical intellect, 
complete a character to be admired and trusted beyond that of 
most men." 

In the year following the war General Gordon was strongly 
urged by his friends to become a candidate for Governor of Geor- 
gia. He declined the honor, and took occasion to address to his 
fellow-citizens the most judicious advice as to the political attitude 
and action of the South. " Let us demonstrate," said he, " that 
the men of the South are most reliable in their observances of 
plio-hted faith, and true to the principles of the Constitution. Dif- 
ficulties of the greatest magnitude oppose our political and mate- 
rial advancement ; but let us give ourselves to the task of 
overcoming them with brave hearts, and wise, unremitting toil." 

275 



6 JOHN B. GORDON. 

In 1867 he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for 
Governor of Georgia, against Eufus B. Bullock, and the Demo- 
crats claim that he was elected by a large majority. He was 
Chairman of the Georgia Delegation in the Democratic National 
Convention of 1868, and in the ensuing canvass was Elector for 
the State at large. He was a Delegate to the National Conven 
tion which assembled at Baltimore July 9, 1872. 

In January, 1873, General Gordon was elected by the Legis- 
lature of Georgia United States Senator, to serve for six years from 
March 4, 1873. In this contest his competitors were Hon. Alex- 
ander H. Stephens, late Vice-President of the Confederate States, 
Hon. B. H. Hill, late ex-Confederate State Senator, and Hon. 
Amos T. Ackerman, ex-Attorney-General of the United States. 
General Gordon was elected on the fifth ballot, the vote being 
Gordon 112, Stephens 86, Ackerman 7. At the called session of 
the Senate, beginning March 4, 1873, he entered upon the dis- 
charge of the duties of his position with characteristic faithfulness 
and energy. 

276 



JOHN J. II^GALLS. 




"■OHN J. INGALLS was born of Puritan ancestry in Mid- 
dleton, Essex County, Massachusetts, December 29, 1833. 
He received the rudiments of education in the common 
schools of his native county, and prepared for college in the Hav- 
erhill High School, to which town his parents removed in 1841. 
He craduated at "Williams College, Massachusetts, in the class of 
1855. He read law in Haverhill, and in 1857 was admitted to the 
Essex County bar. 

He removed to Kansas in 1858, settling at Sumner, named after 
Senator Sumner, and at that time the only distinctively "free 
State," or antislavery, town on the Missouri River. There he re- 
mained until 1S60, when he removed to Atchison, where he has 
since resided. During the Border conflicts he was well known as 
an earnest Free-soiler, and made himself prominent by the vehe- 
mence with which he denounced the supporters of slavery. In 
1859 he was elected a member of the Wyandotte Convention which 
formed the present Constitution of the State of Kansas. It is 
told of him, that soon after his election he was taunted by David 
R. Atchison, a proslavery champion, about his youth and obscurity. 
Ingails, not disconcerted, briefly replied that his youth and obscu- 
rity were preferable to age which was accompanied by infamy. 
This reply secured him the prominence which his ability and 
energy fully deserved. 

In 1860 he was Secretary of the Territorial Council, and in 1861, 
after the admission of the State, he was Secretary of the 
Senate. In 1862 he was elected State Senator from Atchison 
County. In the same year he was a candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor, upon what was known as the « Anti " ticket, and again 

277 



2 JOHN J. INGALLS. 

in 1864, but was defeated on both occasions, although he carried 
his own county in each instance by immense majorities for the 
whole ticket. 

Mr. Ingalls was editor of the Atchison Champion from 1863 to 
1865, and since that time he has been engaged in the practice of 
law in different courts of the State. He was married in 1865. He 
was one of the founders of the Kansas Magazine, to which he has 
been one of the principal contributors, writing chiefly on Western 
life. In his writings he has displayed a varied knowledge of the 
history of the Western country in its transition from barbarism to 
civilization. His papers have attracted much attention, having 
been repi'inted largely both in this country and in Europe. He 
has always been a Republican, and has been prominent both with 
his pen and on the stump in the advocacy of the principles of 
his party. 

The recent election of United States Senator in Kansas was one 
of the most remarkable scenes in the history of American politics. 
Mr. Pomeroy and his friends were confident of his re-election. The 
joint Convention had met, and was proceeding to vote, when sud- 
denly a State Senator arose and sent to the clerk's desk a roll of 
money, amounting to seven thousand dollars, which he asserted that 
he had received from Mr. Pomeroy as a bribe for his vote. The 
effect was electric. Mr. Pomeroy was abandoned by his friends, 
and Mr. Ingalls was elected by a vote almost unanimous. He took 
his seat in the Senate March 4, 1 873, and was appointed on the 
Committees on Pensions and Education and Labor. 

278 




^yiJiyJdhHail S- ^a»Sb^r>i-Ufi'^ 




" rzi-V^I>LxXIXA-A^^-A^^ 



•JOHIT H. MITCHELL. 




'OHN H. MITCHELL was born in Washington County, 
Pennsylt'ania, June 22, 1836. He was educated at With- 
erspoon Institute. He then studied law with the firm of 
Purviance & Thompson, and after being admitted to the bar prac- 
ticed three years in the courts of Western Pennsylvania. Senator 
Cameron, referring to this period in a recently published letter, 
says that his reputation was as good as that of any other public 
man in his county, and that all who knew him speak in high terms 
of his integrity and purity of character. 

Although successful and honored in his business relations, he 
encountered domestic troubles of a painful character, resulting in 
separation and divorce, which induced him to leave Pennsylvania 
and seek a home in California. In a recently' published letter to 
his constituents Mr. Mitchell says: " Seeking at that time only ob- 
scurity, and hoping that I might be forever separated from some 
of the memories of the past, but having committed no wrong act to 
be concealed, neither contemplating the commission of any, I in my 
then perturbed state of mind decided to be known and called there- 
after by my mother's maiden name — Mitchell — which was my 
middle name by baptism. This I frankly concede was an indis- 
creet, ill-advised, and injudicious act, a great blunder, a foolish mis- 
take. I ofler for it no excuse save my inexperience in the world, 
and a great desire to separate myself as far as possible from a past 
that was, and is, inexpressibly painful. It was a violation of the 
conventionalities of life for which I would gladly atone by a life's 
labor. It is not, however, in contravention of any public law. The 
act at once became irretrievable. I leave it to others to judge 

whether thus yielding to the misdirection of a perturbed mind, in 

279 



2 JOHN H. MITCHELL. 

da} s of dt'juction and sorrow, is a sin that years of honorable effort 
in the walks of daily life cannot atone." 

On going to California Mr. Mitchell first settled in San Luis 
Obispo, but desiring a wider field he soon went to San Francisco, 
where he speedily acquired an extensive and lucrative practice. 
In 1860 he removed to Portland, Oregon, and within a year he 
was appointed Corporation Attorney. In June, 1862, he was elected 
to the State Senate, serving six years, the last two of which he w-as 
its presiding olficer. A graceful and fluent speaker, he was at the 
same time a diligent committeeman, avoiding no duties, however 
arduous, imposed by his official obligations. During the entire time 
of his service in the State Senate he was engaged in active practice 
as a lawyer. 

In 1867 he was chosen Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in the 
Willamette University of Oregon. He resigned this position after 
four years of satisfactory and useful service. In 1868 he was em- 
ployed as attorney for the Oregon and California Railroad, which 
position he held for five years, at a salary of ten thousand dollars 
per annum in gold. 

Meanwhile Mr. Mitchell took an active interest in politics. In 
1866 he declined a nomination for Representative in Congress, and 
was a prominent candidate for United States Senator, but was de- 
feated in the Republican caucus by one vote. In 1872, when the 
Republicans in the Legislature of Oregon again had it in their power 
to elect a United States Senator, Mr. Mitchell was chosen as their 
candidate, and was elected. He took his seat in the United States 
Senate March 4, 1873, and was at once assigned to duty on four 
important committees. 

280 



.■*^> 




~V'-!<./B 



■^^Al/ It scrseznii'"^^ 




JOHN P. JONES. 




*^OHN P. JONES was born in Hay, Brecknockshire, Wales, 
in 1828. When only two years old he was brought to 
America by his father, who settled in Northern Ohio, near 
Cleveland. He received a good English education in the 
common schools which abounded in the " Western Reserve " more 
extensively than in any other section of what was then known as 
the " West." He had honorable political aspirations early in life, 
and in his youth he told a cousin that he meant to be elected to the 
United States Senate. 

When the California gold excitement agitated the country in 
1847, Mr. Jones, then a young man of energy and ambition, par- 
took of the enthusiasm which animated thousands in the " States," 
and he made his way to the El Dorado of the West. Arrived iu 
California, he devoted himself to mining with more than ordinary 
success. Different from multitudes, who after an experience of a 
few months, whether of failure or success, returned to their homes 
in the East, Mr. Jones determined to make the Pacific Coast his per- 
manent residence. 

Though occupied with large business enterprises, he took much 
interest in politics, and was elected as a Republican to the Assem- 
bly of California. During his term in the Legislature that body 
formed the " specific contract " by which gold was made the basis 
of currency and greenbacks were made matters of merchandise. 
He was a candidate for Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with 
George C. Gorham for Governor. The ticket was defeated, but 
such was the popularity of Mr. Jones that he received some eleven 

thousand more votes than any other candidate. 

281 



^ 



)f' 



2 JOHN P. JONES. 

In 1867 Mr. Jones went to Nevada, and settled at Gold Hill, 

where he engaged in mining enterprises with extraordinary success. 

His principal investment was in the Crown Point mine, one of the 

most profitable mines in the world— yielding to its owners no less 

than a million and a quarter dollars per month. He took a bold 

stand in opposition to the monopolies and rings upon the Pacific 

Coast which made unjust discrimination against Nevada. On this 

issue he became a candidate for the United States Senate, and was 

elected for the term ending 1879. He took his seat in the Senate 

on the 4th of March, 1873, and at once dovoted himself with en- 

erffv to his oflicial duties. 
^^ 282 



/y^tTl^ 



my 



